Peace march to the border

THE distance from Jalo-de-Chonro to Khokrapar is approximately 24 kilometres and onwards to Zero-point another 10 km. In the 21st century one is expected to travel that distance in half an hour, but for us it was a day-long trip. Thirty-four kilometres is a rough four-wheel drive through the Thar desert which takes a couple of hours, but half the day was lost in convincing the administration of our peaceful intentions.

The occasion was a peace mission by the Pakistan- India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy to the Sindh-Rajasthan border of Khokrapar and Monabao — a terrain not traversed by civilians for the last forty year, except those few who live in that area.

People living on both side of the Rajasthan-Thar border share common cultural, tribal and ethnic bonds. In pre-partition days these tribes used to move freely from one part to another.

In 1965, when the Indian army marched into the bordering areas of Sindh, all the links were severed and following the withdrawal of the Indian army the borders were sealed off.

Since the opening of the Wagha-Attari border in Punjab the people in Sindh, especially those inhabiting border areas, were demanding the restoration of communication links. During this period they have suffered a great deal. I remember a man who came up to me in one of our (PIPFPD) public meetings and wept like a child, narrating his ordeal. His sister was ill in Bar-meer and he lived in Mirpurkhas. They had not been able to meet for the last 20 years. It is not easy to get a visa. Somehow he managed it, but a de-tour through Wagha took him five days to get to Bar-meer, and he could only offer fateha at her sister’s grave. There are a thousand and one stories like these. It has always affected the trade and employment opportunities negatively.

The opening of rail and road links promises a better financial prospect for the deprived people of Thar and Umerkot districts. These areas have a large minority population and its problems have been compounded by time. They need to be trusted and treated as equal citizens of Pakistan. Their exploitation is directly linked to the underdevelopment of Thar.

On the Rajasthan side, Monabao sits on a network of well-built roads connecting it to cities like Jodhpur. Their border is well-lit with searchlights, while our side relies on generators. It is hard to get drinking water and food, as the only means of communication are four-wheel drive jeeps and double cabins used by the Rangers manning the border and a lorry-cum-bus which is known as Kekra (crab) to people who live in small settlements.

We were told that in 1965 20,000 to 25,000 people lived in Khokrapar, but now only 5,000 are there. People lost their jobs when the train service was halted and minorities out of fears migrated to the other side.

According to our programme, the peace activist from different parts of Sindh left Mirpurkhas on the morning of Dec 22 to meet their Indian counterparts at point zero. Hundreds of activists from Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nausharo, Khairpur and Sukkur had joined us. It was a cool breezy morning when our caravan of cars, jeeps and buses left for Umerkot. By 11 a.m. we were in Umerkot hoping to be at our destination at 2 pm. But little did we know about the designs of the administration.

As soon as we reached Umerkot we were asked to meet the nazim in his office, only to be informed that we could not proceed further as they had not received any written instructions from Islamabad. It took us a lot of efforts before we could the administrations clearance.

From Umerkot onwards this whole area falls under the purview of Rangers. They followed us when we left for Khokrapar, leaving a large number of participants behind for Kekras, which were ordered back. Our next stop was Khokrapar. The journey was harsh, rough but beautiful. The sand dunes, bushes with white flowers, and a vast span of wilderness make this desert magical and awesome. We were wading through a sea of sand and could not take our eyes off when we passed a settlement right in the middle of sand dunes.

There was a flat ground with some round-shaped huts, with a camel and other cattle roaming around, kids playing, men sitting around and women busy in their chores in traditional colourful dresses of Thar. It was like a painting, which remains in one’s memory for ever.

Khokrapar was our next stop. As usual we were stopped, but after negotiations were allowed to proceed with a number of instructions. We had to go another 10 miles and time was running out. We wanted to make it before sunset. Our fellow travellers (Indian peace activists) had arrived on the other side and were asking for us.

Finally, we hit the borders. “Here is the Zero point for us because our borders end here”, Major Amir declared. The Indian activist of PIPFPD were about 500 yards away and they were simply exhilarated to see us. The slogans of Hind-Sindh friendship were raised with great enthusiasm . People were waving, dancing and singing songs with joy. We could hear the Indian side clearly as they were well-equipped with loudspeakers and were also allowed to set up camp there. After an hour the sun started setting and the Indian peace activists lighted candles. It looked so beautiful and someone said ‘Jangle me mangle kar diya aap logon ne.’ The Rangers posted on the demarcated line seemed to be enjoying the overwhelming response the people.

On our side we had to burn some bushes as our candles were with our friends who were still on their way. When they reached the spot, the sun had already set and a few flickering lights were on in the Rangers’ office where Col. Basharat was offering us tea.

We thanked them for their hospitality and returned with a hope to go back again on the path travelled so less. The night journey was adventurous but scary. We had to struggle an hour to find our way back to Jalo-de-Chonro, where we had left our cars. All of us were happy to make a landmark statement of friendship between the peoples of Sindh and Rajastan.

Wildlife under threat

Wildlife in Dera and Rajanpur districts is threatened by hunting trips from foreign dignitaries and poaching by local hunters.

The two districts are officially-declared breeding grounds for houbara bustard, a rare bird which comes here in winter. Despite a ban on its hunting, the bird is being hunted ruthlessly by foreign dignitaries and local poachers.

The VVIP movement is facilitated by none other than conservationists — the Wildlife department and an NGO.

The VVIP movement has also disturbed tribal peace to some extent. Since the last couple of years, influential tribesmen are seen at loggerheads in a bid to get maximum benefits from the Houbara Foundation, the NGO.

The foundation sets up several ‘protection camps’ in Mazari, Gorchani-cum-Lond, Leghari, Khosa and Lond dominated areas and spends a huge sum in different heads before and during the foreigners’ visits. As the HF pays for security in the tribal area, each tribe is seen desperate to win the ‘contract’.

In Mazari area of Rajanpur, several bloody clashes have taken place in the past between the security teams of the HF-cum-Wildlife and tribesmen. There is also a serious conflict between the elders of Mazari tribe over the issue of getting financial benefits from the HF in return for security duties. There are three HF camps in the Mazari-dominated area.

In Gorchani-cum-Lond dominated area, a clash claimed the life a foundation’s local employee a couple of months ago. A Gorchani tribe elder booked under murder charges is at large. The HF has set up three camps there.

In Khosa-cum-Leghari and Lond dominated areas of Dera Ghazi Khan, there is also a serious conflict among Khosa and Leghari elders over the issue of getting security rights and houbara hunting. (Though the foreigners are allowed to hunt the bird, locals are barred from doing so. This official double standard is also a source of conflict as tribesmen consider the bird a sources of income.)

Last year, Khosas not only had an internal conflict but they also assaulted HF camps. Consequently, cases were registered against some influential Khosas by the police.

District naib nazim-elected Dost Muhammad Khosa also had, in the past, differences with district nazim Maqsood Leghari over the issue of financial benefits from the HF.

Sources say that the HF gave a huge sum to each tribal elder concerned in return for general protection. It also distributed charity goods among local people through tribal elders. In some cases the goods landed in the open market instead of going to deserving tribesmen. Some influential tribesmen and HF employees were allegedly involved in the scam. Sources confirmed that head of the protection camps in DGK was replaced by the HF recently on corruption charges.

Despite a ban, local poachers also remain active to catch houbaras as visiting Arab dignitaries pay up to Rs 25,000 for each bird.

A local bird trader claims that nearly 800 houbaras were sent to foreign dignitaries during the last one year.

A tribal elder said that the number of houbaras coming to the region every winter was decreasing. He said that HF employees were also involved in the killing of rare grey and red foxes on the ground that the animals scared houbaras.

When Dawn tried to contact Capt Rehan of the Houbara Foundation, he avoided to be in contact.

Wildlife assistant director Mian Muhammad Abbas said the department had received complaints of shooting of foxes by the foundation staff. He said the foundation had been warned.

He also confirmed that the number of houbaras was reducing every year. He said under the Wildlife Act of 1974, houbara lay in third schedule of protected birds and there was a complete ban on its hunting.