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| A year later, these women soldier on | | |
Shujaat Bukhari
Many women in Sultan Daki village of Uri district in Jammu and Kashmir were devastated by the October 2005 earthquake. They lost their homes. They lost their husbands.
Maqsooda Begum with her children. The youngest was born six months after the October 2005 earthquake that killed her husband.
"I CURSE my fate. Why was I born to see this?" cries Maqsooda Begum, 35, pointing towards her six-month-old son Ubaid. Ubaid was born after the death of her husband Hashmatullah Mir in the earthquake that struck Kashmir on October 8, 2005. Maqsooda is one of the many women in the Sultan Daki area in Uri, close to the Line of Control, who lost their husbands in the quake. Most of them live in tents or makeshift shelters. The first instalment of Rs.40,000 given by the Government has been consumed by the daily needs.
Mir was working in a field when the quake struck and was buried alive under a hillock. "We could not get his body," said Rehmatullah, Maqsooda's brother. Rendered homeless, too, Maqsooda is now waiting to move into a two-room structure being built by the Srinagar-based Madrasa Darul Uloom Bilalia. The Darul Uloom Bilalia has taken on the job of constructing 15 such houses, exclusively for widows. All the women have to do is take the building material to the spot.
There are other problems as well. A stream coming down from the Chamba Nallah, the only source of water, was blocked by the quake. "Since then we have no water. We get it through tankers," said a villager, Mohammad Safir. Even the women whose houses are being constructed have to pay for the water.
A Darul Uloom Bilalia worker, Bashir Ahmad, who hails from Kupwara, says constructing the houses is a real uphill task. With no financial help forthcoming, Maqsooda, with her children, is literally starving. "So far an NGO has given Rs.1,200, that is it." She does not dream of sending her children to school. "That is not possible," she says.Naseeba Bano's husband Kifayatullah was also killed in the quake. He was the family's lone bread-winner. A porter, employed in a State Government project on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road exit point, he was hit by a huge boulder and died. His young daughter died soon after. Naseeba did get the first instalment of relief but finds it hard to survive along with her four children.
Irshada too is fighting a lone battle to feed her five children, the eldest of whom is Sayeeda, six. Irshada's husband Mutwali Mir was a labourer and owned a small portion of land. "Since there is no water we cannot even cultivate that," said Irshada fighting to hold back tears. Says little Sayeeda: "I miss my father, as it is difficult to go to school." Her grandparents did help for sometime but were overwhelmed by their own problems. Irshada, who lives in a tin shed, is planning to move into a two-room house being constructed by the Agha Khan Foundation.
The plight of Maliya, Saleema, and Zubaida who have three children each is no different. The problem of orphans in the quake-hit areas is a major challenge despite the existence of a State Government scheme, "Naunihalon Ka Swera." Under the scheme, children who have lost both parents get Rs.5 lakh while Rs.2.50 lakh is given to those who have lost one parent. Many orphans have been adopted by NGOs, and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has handed over passbooks to some children in Kamalkot under the newly launched scheme but children of the widows in question are still in search of relief. "We are trying to cover every village," said a State Government official.
Feel let down
Notwithstanding the many temporary structures constructed either by the residents or NGOs, the people in Sultan Daki, by and large, feel the Government has failed them. "The Government did nothing except give an instalment of Rs.40,000. How can I construct a house of Rs.10 lakh with that amount?" asked Baag Hussain, a resident.
The people, however, acknowledge the support provided by people in Srinagar and other towns of the Kashmir Valley. The population in Uri is mostly Pahari-speaking. Many also appreciate the Army's role in extending facilities to the affected but point out that "big people from India" were missing from the scene. "We have seen what industrialists and other big people have done in Gujarat and the tsunami-hit areas but this is a forbidden place for them," says Arshad Hussain, an undergraduate student.
The economy has been shattered. Sultan Daki, a village with 400 families, has just witnessed just three weddings since the disaster. "Who will do it, we are in trouble," said Muneera, a young girl. Over 2,600 kanals of farmland also could not be utilised for want of water. In the months to come, the battle to get back to a pre-October 8, 2005, lifestyle will continue. Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Basharat Ahmad Dhar, however, disagrees with most of the views. "This is not true that we have not done anything. We are releasing the second instalment to all the families and in fact Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad started the process in the same area on Tuesday," he said.
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