Mourning and fear shape the picturesque valleys of Kashmir between India and Pakistan

Mourning and fear shape the picturesque valleys of Kashmir between India and Pakistan

Malik Khadim's lips tremble, his voice breaks and his head sinks as he tries to hide his grief with one hand. Tears flock over his sunken, weather -tanned cheeks. Khadim is a farmer who lives on the Pakistani side of the de facto border in the controversial Kaschmir region, known as the Line of Control (LOC) that separates India and Pakistan. Like many civilians on both sides of this conflict, he mourns a loved one - in this case around his brother.

The massacre in the Indian -controlled cashmere

Two weeks ago, armed stormed a mountain spa in the Indian -controlled part of Kashmir and killed 26 people, mainly Indian tourists. These atrocities triggered widespread public outrage in India, and this border region that has already been very militarized has been tense.

The consequences of the attack

The day after the massacre on April 22, Indian officials announced that two Pakistani, who planned a terrorist attack, were shot near Khadim's village on the Indian side of the LOC. On this day Malik Farouk, Khadim's brother, was reported missing after he had gone away with cattle. The family later recognized him in pictures of the two men published by Indian authorities, as a Pakistani security officer announced CNN.

The relatives of Khadim and Farouk deny this claim and say that, as she was, he was a poor farmer, who was guarding cattle and went into the nearby forest.

political tensions between India and Pakistan

Both sides have shown diplomats and civilians and closed the airspace for the airlines of the other country. India also refrained from the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which had alleviated the tense ratio for decades.

military escalation in Kashmir

official in Pakistan have stated that they expect an attack by India and promise to react to this as part of their “military doctrine”. The current tone in Islamabad is tougher when this reporter remembers when he reported the 1999 Kargil War. This high mountainous, monthly border conflict cost more than a thousand soldiers, according to the most conservative estimates, in the year after Pakistan and India became nuclear.

In the words of a rank-high security officer from Pakistan, “the moment” is now to change the dynamics in relationships with India-although political relationships with Neu-Delhi have temporarily improved, the military attitudes have hardened in recent decades.

life in the border region

The military journey that CNN under the remote, rough Himalaya mountains undertook in Khadim's village Sarjiwar was both beautiful and terrifying. Rocky paths at high altitudes of more than 3,000 meters wanded through snow fields, fresh rock falls and through forests with huge deodar cedar. Often their huge tribes seemed to offer the only possible lifeline in order to avoid a fatal fall into the raging rivers underneath.

A few hours of this jerky journey are enough to understand why neither Pakistan nor India could ever win a decisive victory in this rough environment. Nevertheless, both nations want to control this region to use the water from the snow -covered peaks. Despite the challenging terrain, several million people live on both sides of the LOC in this controversial country.

The challenges of life in Sarjiwar

Life here is hard: older women and children carry huge bundle of branches down the steep slopes; Rudimentary farmers are crowded between the mighty deodar trees; And barren villages glue on the slopes where thin water buffalos, here are very valued, look for grass.

Another villager said that his extended family lives in a house and said: "The older people, children and women are very scared. We want to bring our cattle to the pasture, but the Indians shoot ... this is our only living ... and we have no other place where we can go."

The fear of a new conflict

Although there were no shots during the two-hour stay of this CNN team in Sarjiwar, both India and Pakistan have reported from firing changes almost every day since last month. Khadim, 55 years old and born in Sarjiwar, explained that the whole village was increasingly excited and that the residents want to drive their cattle into the summer willow, as they would normally do at this time of year, but because of the fear of shots by Indian soldiers.

his greatest fear, however, is that the death of his brother is only a harbinger of a worse fate, and that he will not only lose loved family members, but also his lifelong home and his livelihood. "India was very wrong with us," he said to CNN. "If you want me to go, then you should put a ball in my head, that's the only way I will go."

public opinion and political reactions

India has long accused Pakistan of accusing militant groups, carrying out the attacks on Indian territory, and not doing enough to smash them. There is also considerable public pressure on Prime Minister Modi to react to the recent massacre with violence.

After a large -scale attack by insurgents on paramilitary troops in the Indian cashmere in 2019, decided modes and had India carried out the first air strikes in Pakistan for decades, with both sides in the air briefly involved in a fight via Kashmir. After hectic international diplomacy, a large -scale war was ultimately averted.

The civilian population is afraid that today's word war between Islamabad and Neu-Delhi could soon turn into a real conflict. People feel powerless on both sides of the LOC, while their politicians warm up old disputes again and possibly sparked down smoldering resentment for decades.