ISLAMABAD: Even after 20 years, thousands of civilians, displaced due to the Kargil War, are still languishing in refugee slums while waiting for the Pakistani authorities to rehabilitate them.
Many like Zainab Bibi, who fled from Pakistan occupied Kashmir's (PoK) Ganokh, are still waiting for official promises to materialise, even as life thrives on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), according to M Ilyas Khan for BBC.
"We were at home and it was night time, around 8 pm. We saw shells exploding on the mountaintops, so we rushed to the cave bunkers," Zainab told the British broadcaster.
At least 20,000 people had to flee from Kharmang valley, where Ganokh is located, due to a covert operation by the Pakistani military which later turned into a full-fledged conflict. "It led to defeat and embarrassment, and triggered events that culminated in the country's (Pakistan) third military coup in 50 years," Khan wrote.
While the displaced population has doubled after two decades, at least 70 per cent of them are yet to return to their lands which were ravaged by the war.
They haven't been compensated for their loss, even though the Pakistan+i Army has taken over their land. Bombs and landmines, which are still strewn across the area, further make their properties inhabitable, making many believe that they have been "abandoned" by the Pakistani government.
"This is mainly due to the absence of any government-led rehabilitation program, or because their lands have been taken over by the army," Wazir Farman, a member of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told BBC.
Gangani, Brolmo and Badigam Bresel, which were closest to the frontline, was completely destroyed in the war.
The areas are still off-limits for the displaced locals, as the Pakistani Army has set up barracks and bunkers in them.
"Protests by the villagers in Skardu in 2003 and 2004 forced the district administration to set up a team including military officials to carry out a survey of their losses. In 2010, a compensation package of 110 million Pakistani rupees (about USD 6,80,000) was worked out for the three villages, but the money has not been paid," Khan reported.
"We held meetings with the army force commander in Skardu, with the chief minister in Gilgit, we travelled to Islamabad to discuss the issue with officials of the ministries of defence and Kashmir affairs," Bu-Ali Rizwani, one displaced village elder from Brolmo said.
"The army told us the government would pay. The Kashmir ministry said the Gilgit-Baltistan government would pay. It said the army would pay. We chased the matter until 2012, and then we gave up" he added.
"In Gulatari region, the military has been delaying payment of a much smaller amount of about 1.9 million Pakistani rupees to residents whose land it acquired to build a jeep track to its forward posts in 1999. The delay has come despite a 2010 court ruling in favour of the landowners," Khan said.