Rail link construction best solution to militancy

PEACE LINK: Not a single youth has gone towards militancy since rail link construction began in Ramban.

        

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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Keywords: Militancy, Rail Link

A fragile rock structure on one hand and an equally delicate security situation on the other - This rail link passes through many militancy-hit villages, villages which were an ideal combination of unemployment and inaccessibility. Here is the story on the track is the alternate road to peace. Read on...

Ramban: The Ramban Banihal area had been the hub of the Hizbul Mujadeen outfit in the mid 1990s, with more than 500 terrorists operating here. But now it is hectic construction activity which is challenging the gun power.

Ample Job Opportunities

When Shafiq Ahmed speaks about militancy in Kashmir, people listen. Ahmed was himself a member of the Hizbul Mujahideen. He says he took up the gun in 1991 to make some easy money, but five years later, he surrendered. Today, Ahmed is a private contractor with the railways, and is head of the Garib Behbood Railway Mazdoor Union, which has over 4,000 members. The railway link, he says, could just be the best solution to the militant problem.

"The main cause of militancy is unemployment. People were educated but had no jobs. They had families. How could they support them? So militancy lured them," Ahmed explains.

"When the railway project came to our village, militancy was at its peak. With the project, local youths had an option they stopped joining militant outfit. The main cause of militancy now being on the wane is here is the project," he adds.

The railway link is virtually transforming villages like Khari. Just four years ago, most of Khari's 25,000 strong population lived below the poverty line. Jobs were hard to come by and armed militants were everywhere. But when the first railway survey was conducted in 2004, some of the villagers knew that change was coming.

Mohammed Salim Makdoomi, like many others, rented his land to the railways. His son got himself a job with railways and soon their mud house turned to brick and steel.

He says, "The change has been tremendous. We used to live in mud houses, but ever since the railways have come to our village, tin sheets are being used to make homes. We have concrete houses, we have got compensation for our land. We had not seen even Rs 1,000 in one go up till then. Now we have got lakhs of rupees."

In Khari, over 500 young men now have jobs with the Indian Railways. Another 1,500 depend indirectly on the rail link. Land prices have increased by over 400 per cent, from 16 lakhs for an acre to 80 lakhs. Three tunnels and a railway have changed lifestyles.

Says a resident of Khari, Farooq Ahmad, "Ever since the rail project has reached here and the tunnel survey was conducted, I left my private job and joined them. I get a monthly sum of Rs 5,500 and the condition of my house and my lifestyle has changed. My children now go to an English academy."

A Change in Mindsets

The biggest change, however, has been of mindsets. For years, Khari had been a hub of terrorist activity.

Mohamamd Salim says, "There were anywhere between 300-400 terrorists here. Every year some 40-odd youngsters woulld join militant outfits, but in the last four years, no one has gone the militancy way."