Tauseef Ahmad/Mohammad Aatif Ammad Kanth
Ganderbal: As the morning sun softly illuminates the rooftops of Kangan, a small town located 16 kilometres from Ganderbal in central Kashmir, Haleem Lone, 46, a father of two sons and a daughter, vigorously gathers documents to cast his vote in the upcoming assembly elections on October 1. A displaced resident of Jawdara village in Gurez, Haleem now lives 170 kilometres from his birthplace but is preparing to return there to vote.
For Lone, this election holds a promise of change and a glimmer of hope that their voices will be heard. After 19 years of displacement this will be his third vote which he will cast in his native village, for which he has to travel a day before to reach there from central Kashmir to the far flung area of North Kashmir near the line of control.
A day before the polling date which is 1st october, Lone who belongs to a Dard community will leave his home in central Kashmir’s Kangan region for which buses have been hired for them by local political leaders of Gurez. Haleem has to travel 250 km’s rugged terrains, high mountain passes to cast his vote at his birthplace.
Gurez Valley, located at 125 Kms towards north of Srinagar and a secluded area in Jammu and Kashmir close to the Line of Control, is renowned for its stunning natural landscapes and vast grazing lands for shepherds. Home to about fifty thousand residents, the people of Gurez speak the Shina language and are referred to as Dards.
The valley was key to the silk route from Europe to Kashgar in China and home of Shina speaking Dard Tribe. Before 2007, the valley was only open during colonial times when travellers came to explore the valley.
Gurez which remains cut with the rest of the world for six months due to heavy snowfall in the region in winter months. “Many peoples of Gurez migrate to urban areas in winter months as it remains cut with the rest of the world where peoples remain isolated for several months without basic facilities,” Abdul Rehman, a resident of Gurez said.
Jawdara, a small village located 28 kms from Gurez valley of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district and 156 kms towards north of Srinagar was once home to the residents of seventy families like Haleem.
Recalling the life of his village Haleem shares that the life in his birthplace was simpler but richer in ways that matter. His village, covered with snow-clad mountains, forests and natural beauty, was a place of memories for him where they once gathered and laughed together in the evenings.
“I have a small patch of agricultural land there,” Haleem shares. “ If i could go back, i will farm it again, but without a road it is impossible because we have to pay around seven to eight thousands of rupees to bring vegetables here from Jawdara,”.
But in January 2005 everything changed when a snow avalanche buried their home and forced them to leave their homes for safety. Displaced by a snow avalanche the community settled in different villages of Ganderbal district and are forced to travel nearly 170 kilometres on polling day to cast their vote in their native villages due to unavailability of polling booths for these displaced people at the places where they are displaced to, which becomes a hurdle for many in casting their votes leaving hundreds away from this democratic process.
Although there isn’t any specific data on the number of average deaths due to snow avalanches in Kashmir yet avalanches have increasingly become a major issue in Kashmir and the entire Himalayan region. Since 2021, over 120 people have lost their lives due to avalanches in the Himalayas. One significant event occurred this year in Gulmarg during the fourth edition of the Khelo India Winter Games, where 800 participants were involved in various winter sports, including snowboarding, alpine skiing, and Nordic skiing.
In 2005, the Dard community was affected by a snow avalanche when a series of devastating snow avalanches hit Jammu and Kashmir, killing over 500 people across different areas. These avalanches forced many to leave their homes and migrate to other parts of the valley. The Dards were among the communities displaced by this disaster.
A research paper titled “Avalanche Phenomena in Northwest Himalaya: A Review” by M.Shekhar and A. Ganju concludes that changing climate conditions have globally impacted avalanche patterns, with factors like afforestation and deforestation also playing a role. In recent decades, snowfall and snow cover duration have decreased in lower and middle elevation mountainous regions, leading to a retreat of large avalanche zones to higher altitudes. In the Indian Himalayas, global warming has affected the cryosphere, increasing the frequency of snow avalanches, particularly in the Western Himalayas and triggered climate migrations.
Dr. Irfan Rashid, Assistant professor in department of Bioinformatics, University of Kashmir, explains, “Villages near avalanche-prone areas are constantly at risk of climate migration due to the threat of snow avalanches. Situated at the base of steep mountains, these villages face increased danger as climate change leads to warmer temperatures, accelerating snowmelt and triggering avalanches, which pose a serious threat to these communities.”
Lone’s family being one of the displaced families among many now live in a small house in Kangan, far from the serenity of his native village.
Lone works as a daily labourer in nearby town of Kangan from which he earns a meagre income of 8,000 INR monthly to support his family of seven which includes his daughter, wife, daughter in law and his three sons.
The cost of travelling to his native village is approximately 1200 per person, which according to him can take a significant toll on his income, but the dream of returning home overweighs the burden.
“We were happy in our village, earning a living by growing vegetables and selling them to dealers who took them to nearby markets for sale,” Lone said. “Since being displaced, most of us are now working as labourers in Kangan, barely making enough to support our families.”
Lone shared it took him 12 hours in 2014 assembly elections to reach Middle School Gobas in Tulail tehsil of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district where a polling station for his community was setup from a place where they currently live, saying many people preferred to be at homes instead of casting a vote on the polling day.
“It was a harsh winter day in January 2005 when a snow avalanche hit our village Jawdara Tulail. At that time we decided to vacate our homes and travel to Kangan, the government got to know about that after six months,” Abdul Khaliq Lone, 68, a displaced resident of Jawdara said.
Recounting the Thursday night of 13th January 2005 lone shared it was the night which is still in their memories. “Despite passing two decades we are yet to forget that night,”.
The heavy snowfall happened that night At around 8 o’clock in the early morning when a snow avalanche hit our homes. We only managed to save our lives and travelled to Kangan to save our lives.
“We only spent days here. No place can fulfil the love we have with our village where we were born and spent our childhood days,”.
With tears in his eyes alone, he lost his friend in that tragedy. “I still mourn his death because he was very close to my heart and was with me five minutes before that day. The snowfall was about five metres that day which was till the rooftops of our houses,”.
These residents since 2005 in every election travel 170 km to cast their votes but their voices were never heard.
A long road to cast a vote
Khaliq, who is a dedicated political worker, shared that they will leave a day before a poll day from their homes to cast their votes . “Buses will be hired by candidates who are in the election fray who will pick and drop us,”.
He added that the government had not yet taken any step to ease their problem.”People who travelled to Kangan before 2005 snow avalanche in search of better basic facilities were allotted polling centres in Kangan but we are still suffering for this democratic right,”.
“We came from Jawdara tehsil in Gurez back in January 2005, after an avalanche struck our village, killing one person. With no other choice, we were forced to migrate, leaving our homes behind. Many of us ended up in different parts of the valley, particularly here in Kanagan part of central Kashmir ‘s Ganderbal district,” Haleem Lone, who is preparing to cast his vote.
At that time, there were no phones or basic facilities there. We approached the authorities, requesting them to rehabilitate us in our village and build a road, as our village has no access. We reached out to the MLA and other government officials, but no one came to our aid. Eventually, we settled here, and although the authorities promised to resettle us, they never did.
Now our villagers are scattered across 10 villages in Ganderbal. “Our village was beautiful, and everything was going well until the avalanche took it all from us. We are still deeply connected to our village, dreaming of it even now. All the displaced families are spread out, and it takes nearly a full day to reach our village on foot because there is no road,”.
Most voters who plan to cast their votes have to begin their journey a day before election day in order to reach their designated polling station on time.
“We will leave at 8 a.m in the morning the day before polling day from Kangan. By around 1 P.m, we will reach Tragbal, the midpoint of our journey where we will take a break for breakfast and rest for about half an hour,” said one of the voters.
After the break, they will continue their journey, arriving in the Gurez valley around 5 p.m in the evening. “We will have a cup of tea before travelling another 30 kilometres to reach the vicinity of our polling station. We will spend the night with relatives and neighbours there,” they added
“If we get a road, all the villagers scattered due to the avalanche will return home. Having a road would also ensure that in case of another disaster like 2005, we could evacuate quickly and safely,”.
“According to the electoral roll issued by the Election Commission of India, the voters of Jawdara are required to cast their vote at the Gobus polling station in Tulail, from where they have been relocated in 2005,” District Election Officer Bandipora, Manzoor Ahmad Qadri told The Migration story.
He further mentioned that the Election Commission of India has not provided any guidelines to arrange transportation for these voters. “If anyone provides transportation, it will be considered a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC),” Qadri added.
The Fake promises
In every election the candidates who contest the election from Gurez constituency visit Kangan where the displaced Dard people are settled now, at the time of elections to seek votes but according to the residents they never return to these people after coming to power.
“Since 2005 our voices have never been heard after being displaced by the snow avalanche. We still live in rented houses. Many people are yet to construct their houses. No one cares for us. We also got detached here,” Taja Begum, told the Migration story.
She added the seventy families who once gathered in the same field in the evenings are now living in more than 10 villages in Kangan.
“I will never cast my vote. We got displaced but no one raised this issue. We had not received any compensation to start our new life,”.
She added, after leaving her house in 2005 the whole village blazed completely in a fire incident a few years ago, adding to her pain to their wounds. “We have agricultural lands there, we want to go back to our homes but it seems impossible now as nobody wants to raise our issues,”.
Aamir lone, a first time voter, shared his views on the casting of his vote in these assembly elections and said the candidates in every election visits his village to see votes but they never return to them after coming into power.
For Aamir, his vote means only at election time. Several candidates who are in the election fray from Gurez have visited his area in the last month.
In the Gurez constituency in the last elections the NC won by a small margin of 147 votes. “Every vote matters for politicians only at the time of elections; after that they can not identify us for the next five. We hope our voices will be heard this time,”.
Mohmmad Hamza Lone, a first time contesting candidate on mandate of Peoples conference from Gurez valley while speaking on the issue told The Migration story that the candidates who were elected from the region remain busy in their works and forgotten peoples of Jawdara.
He pledged to raise this issue on priority basis if he gets elected from the region.
A Dream to return back to their homes
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an average of 21.5 million peoples were forcibly displaced annually between 2008 and 2016 due to the weather related events such as floods, stroma, wildfires and extreme temperatures. This phenomenon known as climate migration is projected to increase significantly in the coming decades.
Forecast from the International think tank, the institute of economics and peace (IEP), estimates that by 2050 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally as a result of climate change and natural disasters.
“Climate change is the primary cause of the increasing avalanches in the Himalayas. In the past decade, we’ve experienced warmer winters in Kashmir. Higher temperatures make the snow unstable on landscapes that were once secure due to colder conditions. Now, these landscapes hold more heat, causing snow to melt and lubricate the surfaces between the snow and the ground, leading to avalanches,” explained Dr. Irfan Rashid, Assistant professor in department of Bioinformatics, University of Kashmir.
Among the displaced comes Sonullah Lone, 49,a daily labourer by profession and father of two sons and a daughter. Lone, a member of Dard community told Migration story.”I have never cast my vote since our migration to Kangan but this time i will because we have suffered a lot by remaining away from our birth place, i hope this time our voices will be heard,”
He also said that the community wants to get connected with Tulail from Kangan which according to him will decrease the travel time and distance from 170 km’s to only 30 km’s.
He emphasised, it is not impossible for the government to make roads in areas where people have even not dreamed. The survey for Tulail-Jawdara road was completed in 2005 but it remains as it is.
For Haleem and others like him the ballot box represents more than just a democracy, it is the symbol of their hope to return home. As they prepare to cast their votes on Oct 01, Haleem shared they will not travel only to cast their votes but will carry with them dreams of a better future. “We hope our voices will be heard this time,”.
The Bias
“Many people who did not have any political connection remain out of this democratic right because they can not afford to pay a 1000 or 1500 fair to cast their vote,” Faizan Lone, 26, a student of 5th semester of Bachelors in Science said.
He says that the young generation wants changes as they are now fed up with fake promises but if they have to cast their vote they do not have a choice because only two or three candidates are powerful who can hire vehicles to pick and drop them.
“It does not make any sense to travel that much distance and cast a vote according to someone’s will. Instead of that it is better to remain out of this process,” he laminated.
The residents shared that not a single report was covered by the media after his displacement in 2005 to date. They hoped their voices will be heard after this report and will be given a polling station in Kangan where they can cast their votes without anyone’s favour and according to his own will.
