Now the eleven years have gone, I still remember the horribility of episode that I witnessed once in my life and can never forget. It was the morning time of August 11, 2007, working as a teacher in a private school those days, I was getting ready to leave for my duty. Meanwhile, I heard the big blast sound, which I thought was of the “expired ammunition disposing process” , which often used to happen at Khandroo military ammunition depot in district Anantnag, situated some three Kilometres away from my village. But subsequently, the continuous explosions, one after other which shook the walls of my room made me to think some thing different. When I came out from my house to enquire what happened, I saw the locals getting busy in groups discussing about the same, suddenly a big bang explosion was heard, this time it rocked the earth the way that everybody sat down with fear. After which many such kind of high intensity explosions happened.
Just a few minutes after, I saw the rush of people crying and fleeing away from the surrounding areas of depot, among them the men in uniform without arms with muddy and bare feet were also seen along with Kashmiri children, elders , men and women saying “Bago, Bago-run away , run away” with their tired breath. And we exactly came to know that the Khandroo depot one of the biggest ordnance depots in Kashmir, spread across several kilometres, had accedently caught fire. It looked so dangerous, as if war like situation. The terribility was that, the unending and ear deafening blast sounds shook the earth , the depot immefiately went up into flames and the huge clouds of smoke started billowing out from the place, everybody took it as if the last day of their lives.
As the high range and dangerous weapons were stored in the depot, authorities’ immefiately ordered red alert and asked some fourteen villages within the radius of its five Kilometres to evacuate to safer places in order to keep the situation under control. Thousands of people from adjoining areas abandoned their homes and fled away. I myself took some of my family children and women in my brother’s car and carried them to Mattan the safer area, some five Kilometres away from my village. Though it was the safer place, because a hill separated it from Khundroo, but as I reached Mattan, the situation was extremely tense there and the threat had griped the people badly. I saw thousands of people crying with fear while being carried in different vehicles, with huge traffic mess, to Mattan.
However volunteers, the local youth, who had been given the responsibility of traffic control by civil society, stoped me like other vehicles at the entryway and asked me to go back and bring the left out people. They assured me to take care of my family members till my back arrival. I salute to those brave youth for their courageous contribution who came forward at that heart-wrenching moment. In the Mattan village of Anantnag, local society comprising of mixed population of Sikhs as well Muslims had soon made arrangements for the stay and lunch for thousands of those who came from the villages near Khandroo. In a shortest possible time tents were installed and lunch was prepared for the evacuated. However at that fearful moment, no one was in a mood to have a lunch.
I made three returns to ferry some children, old men and women from my village. Later some one told me, that some of my family members have reached to Anchidora and Mir Danter the safer villages were our relatives lived. That day, it happened with all families that some reached to one place and others reached to some other place and remained unaware about each others were abouts. But at the evening time tears dripped from my eyes, when I saw men , women and children, on a local TV news channel “ABC” shedding their tears with threat ,while being carried in tractor trolleys to safer places. However, showing their generous nature people offered the best hospitality to the evacuated at the time of need. Not only by their relatives but by all the people in the district, the evacuated were treated with human heart. In Anantnag a big camp was established by the locals at Markazi Eid Gagh Anantnag and “LUNGER__Meal” arrangements were made for those who had left their homes. Every Kashmiri came forward with helping hand and even I saw some people in Anantnag town, were moving through streets in search of guests, asking everyone to become their guests. It was really an extraordinary example of Kashmiriyat during that adverse situation.
Next day when the situation was to some extent under control, but the bomb blasts were going on and we came back to home. But it shocked me again, when I came to know some employees in the said depot had lost their precious lives and many were injured while trying to put off the dangerous fire at the very beginning. It devastated me more when I heard that the brother of one of my friends from Tailwani village, who was a fireman had also lost his precious life in the incident, May Allah rest all of their souls in peace. One of my cousins who were also a firefighter was also seriously injured during the beginning of incident. This hazardous episode left some people dead; some disabled and caused a huge property loss of the people living in the adjoining areas. The shells were scattered in the adjoining villages of depot, many of them blasted later accidently and caused damage while many were defused by the police. Later the government compensated for the property lost. But the question that remained under the carpet is that the ammunition depots near dwelling places aren’t a threat? Who is safe from the weapons made by people to kill the people? Who guarantees the safety of people surrounded by the ammunition laden depots all around?
(Author is a freelancer. Views are exclusively his own)
