Along the Line of Control (LoC), the allegiances of canines too is suspect.

Soldiers and porters in the frontier Leepa Valley of the Kupwara district, recount the story of a bitch, from across the LoC, who would be seen following them around.

Later, it was found out that the dog was in fact a Pakistani spy who stole papers at night and took them across the military control line. It was killed swiftly after its ‘cover was blown’.

They have another story, that of a Pakistani commando who disguised himself as a porter. One night, he slaughtered all the Indian porters and soldiers, sparing only the cook.

Since then, all porters are locked up after 7pm and aren’t let out even to relieve themselves — use your long shoes, they are told. In Tootmar Gali, a ravine overlooking the Leepa Valley, soldiers pray for peace at the dargah of Peer Sakhi Shah near the villages of Navkot and Chani, deserted now because their inhabitants migrated across the LoC during the 1971 war. A shepherd Abdul Rahman Kumhar stumbled upon the dargah and adjoining mosque while looking for his cattle and informed the Indian Army.

These had been occupied by Pakistani troops, but were abandoned in 1971. Indian soldiers now look after the dargah, where Kumhar conducts prayers.

Driving towards the LoC from the last human habitation of Reshiwari in the Mawar region, tension over increased ceasefire violations is palpable.

Though the situation is not as bad as it was before the 2003 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, there is widespread speculation that tension will escalate. Occasional gunfire shatters the calm of the lush forests with the deodar and coniferous trees taking the brunt of the mortar shelling. In villages, farmers wait for the maize crop to mature so that they can harvest it and leave. Women looking for the rare and expensive tripetri herb don’t venture deep into the forest.

Villages in the forward regions beyond the fence, face other problems. In Churanda, Uri, where the first ceasefire violation took place in October last year, killing three civilians, sarpanch Laldin complained that the army had sealed two openings of a fence leading to the village.

The fence, erected five kilometres from the LoC, cuts through Churanda, so that the houses lie on one side and the schools and markets are on the other.“Our children cannot attend school and villagers who need medical attention cannot move out. It is an open jail. They have virtually handed us over to Pakistan,” Laldin said. Mohammad Abdullah, a local police officer, told dna that the villagers have taken up the issue with the army.

Nadeem Akber Abasi, sarpanch of the Gowalda village near Zero Line (the area between the LoC and the fence) in the Uri sector, said that the villagers have started rebuilding their lives after 2003.

“We used to live in underground bunkers, but the October 2005 tremors destroyed them. We built concrete houses, schools and health centres with the aid and donations that came in after that. But now we fear all of that will go down the drain,” he said.There are fears of another mass migration as villages across the LoC are reportedly starting to move to safer places.“Some 40 families or 300 people have left their homes in 10 villages in the Nakyal sector across LoC,” said Abasi.