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Written by: Aijaz Wani (aijazwanibk@gmail.com)

Category: ARTICLES

Published: 18 June 2015

Already torn apart by the conflict, the wounded valley had to face another catastrophe but this time it was not because of the cease fire violation on either side of the border or massacre of the innocent on the street by the enemies of mankind rather it happened through the power whom we can’t resist but pray only to shower mercy on us.  As the valley was gearing for the harvest, the season of hope and survival for the peasants, early September brought incessant rains with number of cloud bursts, raising the level of streams, ponds and the river Jhelum to an unexpected levels.

The water on all sides took the shape of a water bomb suddenly bursting, flooding at first the south Kashmir. Life in the rest of the valley was still normal, Srinagar was unaware of the danger and north Kashmir was waiting for the clear skies. Mobile, internet, Face-book etc. was functioning normally, connecting the lives across the valley. All of a sudden, on September 8, Srinagar, the summer capital of the state got submerged by the floods, erasing all signs of human existence. As the news of city’s devastation flowed to other corners, people in the meantime heard that government has decided to divert city waters towards sonawari and concerned M.L.A of the area has resisted the idea which has even led to the fight between the ministers of the same party.

Whatever the reality, other day city’s water was drained towards sonawari and the people of the area with all anguish and pain started fleeing like cattle and sheep with everything they could accommodate in their poor pockets in helpless circumstances. Everything got disconnected from mobile phones to the transport and life all of a sudden came to a halt like a dying man in an intensive care unit. As the water entered the vast expanses of sonawari, Hajin, the town of saints, scholars and poets was gearing for the fight, sacrificing everything at its disposal.Surrending everything before Allah as the brave people always do, people of the town under the guidance of the elders and well-read people got together forgetting the socio-economic and political barriers to stop the roaring waters with wit and will.

All of a sudden voice from the loud speaker fixed to a sumo by Rafeeq Sahab would say, “Hajnik javana bani ha chai chandan, dapan chai bandas bah raach, dapan chai bi gachani oor,moun azzat chi tali yali hajin chai” (Oh, the young soul of Hajin, sister is calling you back, asking you to guard the boundaries of hajin because she argues that her honour is safe within the town only).These lines would make the people particularly young ones so emotional that thousands would in no time throng themselves in the main chowk with axes,screws,knives,nylon bags etc  in their hands.

Besides this more than two dozen tractors, some load carriers   in possession of the people were ready for the ride. In case of some emergency a J.C.B.would be called in to assist the people. When all this force would move together towards the new hospital site, People in the neighboring villages of the town would call us ‘China’. Managing committee headed by well experienced and foresighted people was so efficiently handling all this that one would even dream of having a government of such people.Shakir Shafi,lecturer and a well-known orator in the valley was making frequent announcements on the loud speaker about the direction of the men and material towards the sensitive sites and Assadullah sahab,a retired patwari of the town, greatly respected by the people, outlined the sketch of the entire flood area on the backside of the Vetenary building showing possibilities of protecting the area.

People on the other hand were highly busy in filling thousands of Nylon bags with sand and soil in the bright sunshine caring least for the food, rest and home. Behind this black and white picture was professor Ameen Fayaz, well known Scholar and a good writer, Prof Khursheed, a well-known Geologist, Mohd Shafi Bhat Z.E.O.Sumbal, Ghulam Qadir Dar, a senior lawyer at the session court sumbal,Manzoor Ahmad dar, headmaster and a well-known poet and a number of other officers worthwhile to be mentioned were working day in and day out like casual laborers. Besides these gentlemen,Imtiyaz parray, his younger brother waseem and elder one Khursheed parray, sons of ex M.L.A Kuka parray assisted the job in all possible ways. With ‘save sonawari mission’ hundreds of people from Hajin on convoy of tractors would make frequent visits to Naidkhay, Zalpora, Asham,Khomena etc to raise the level of bands and keep vigil of the entire area which consumed almost a week.

As the water crossed these barriers with great force, and even touched the feet of the great town, people of the area had no other option but to shield it from a close range at Vigpara.Considering it as the last boundary of defense, several expert opinion were shared and well know persons of the host village were taken into confidence before starting the main work. The dialogue settled well and thousands of people were directed to guard different corridors in groups so that everything goes well. Almost ten dark sleepless nights on the damaged roads under twinkling skies with reasonable supply of food by the managing committee of Hajin.

As planned already, water made a store house near vigpara, every rising inch would raise the blood pressure and at times raise doubts about the plan but as the old saying goes, success belongs to the brave, water level in the Wular started decreasing by few inches which enabled the committee to drain the deadly waters in the lake.With this the entire area took great sigh of relief and the dust in the painful atmosphere settled down. This struggle of course will be written with golden words on the pages of history and would be often talked about as a symbol of bravery.