New Delhi and Islamabad seem to covet only territory. They do not seem to care much about their own civilians who have become refugees of this undeclared war. Himal's writers on either side of the Line of Control find that civilian life is hell.
Chikothi is a small village in Azad Kashmir barely 15-km from the Line of Control. Villagers stand about in the bazaar when the air suddenly reverberates with the sound of artillery. The booming gets louder, but no one panics or runs for cover. "It´s a routine," said one shopkeeper nonchalantly. Nearby, a mosque and a small clinic lie half-destroyed by recent Indian shells. A market had been burnt to ashes and a pile of rubble is all that remains of a shop.
Chikothi is one of scores of small villages and towns on the Pakistani side which are directly exposed to the Indian guns on the mountains beyond. "Don´t stand here in a group," advised a resident. "You can´t see them, but they are watching you and the civilian population is their main target." Even as he was saying this, a young man with a bleeding leg is being taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir. Civilian injuries have become commonplace.
The favourite target of the Indian Bofors guns seems to be Khalyana, a village about six-km from Chikothi. Arshad Abbasi, the chairman of the Khalyana Union Council, said that at least 18 neighbouring villages have been hit badly. Even so, many of the villagers have not moved out of the area.