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Josy Joseph in Chattisinghpora
The current assembly election and several government promises are yet to make their presence felt in Jammu & Kashmir's most famous killing field, Chattisinghpora, where villagers continue to experience the old Indian story of official neglect.
The election fever gripping some of the other parts of the state may never affect the villagers of Chattisinghpora, simply because the 800-odd votes here do not have the power to overturn the fortunes of any of the candidates contesting the Achabal constituency.
As far as the government's promises, made in the wake of the massacre of 35 Sikhs on March 20, 2000, are concerned, the fact that even the most visible leader of this predominantly Sikh village, who stood before television cameras suggesting migration as the only solution, took up a state government job and moved away tells its own tale.
The promises of Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and other politicians to convert this village nestled atop a hillock into a model village and provide more jobs to the youth have remained unfulfilled.
For the time being, the villagers are busy plucking the remaining walnuts from their trees and selling them to Jammu traders at a staggeringly low rate of Rs 15 or 20 per kilo. In the international market, the dry fruit is worth hundreds of rupees a kilo.
Seventy-year-old Sewa Singh, who lost his son Raghubir in the March 2000 massacre, remains sceptical about the election. "Will elections make some difference?" he asked. Yet, Sewa Singh remains willing to vote, though no candidate has visited his village.
Sartar Singh, who lost his brother Surjit in the massacre, also wants to vote, but has not decided on the candidate yet. "A lot of politicians came here after the killings, including Advaniji. But their promises are unfulfilled," he said.
The roads in the village have not been tarred properly. The local transformer trips every other day, as it cannot withstand the extra load being drawn by a Central Reserve Police Force unit, which moved into a building next to the massacre site.
The kin of those killed in the massacre have been given jobs, and some 35 village youths have entered the state police force after a special recruitment drive.
But the villagers are not satisfied. Retired headmaster P B Singh, who runs a stationery store near the massacre site, where a memorial has been built around the bullet marks on the gurdwara wall, said, "The village still suffers from a high rate of unemployment." He does not want to vote and believes that being a minority their votes will not make a difference.
"The majority takes up the gun and they also get to rule. Where do we stand?" he remarked, clearly pointing to the Islamic faith of the terrorists active in the state as well as most members of the ruling National Conference. But he quickly added that lack of enthusiasm for the election did not mean Chattisinghpora would boycott the polls.
Arvinder Singh, who got a job with the state education department because his first cousin was among those killed in the massacre, also said he was not very keen to vote because "our votes have no impact".
The oldest resident of the village, Arjun Singh --- local folk say he is 120 years old! --- who is completely blind and deaf, totters on a walking stick around the massacre memorial into the gurdwara. The old man, who lost his son Niranjan Singh in the attack, settles down there, his head buried in his hands.
The memorial near the massacre site says "unknowns" killed the Sikhs. And that is how the attackers are described till this day, after the government refused to order any independent inquiry into the incident even though some people claimed that the killers were Indian soldiers and not militants.
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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