The spectacular Gurez valley lies secluded in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, tucked between the northern stretch of Kashmir, 123 km from Srinagar, and Pakistan’s southern horizon. When you tell the locals how beautiful it is, the common response is: “Oh, but you don’t want to be here in the winters.”
Gurez
Gurezi women
Gurez lives through one of the harshest winters in the country. With temperatures touching close to -25°C, the region is covered under at least 10 feet of snow through the winter months. The roaring Kishanganga river that runs through Gurez freezes. The soil freezes. The road transport, in and out of Gurez, freezes. Life, in general, comes to a cold halt. Most locals travel to Bandipora or Srinagar to escape the cold as living in the small valley gets close to impossible.
The Gurez valley does not usually receive much media attention. But it grabbed the headlines recently when the Rs 5,750-crore Kishanganga Hydro Electric Project (KHEP), commissioned by the NHPC, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Unlike other dams constructed around the country, the one built on Kishanganga sparked a debate, located as it is along the Line of Control (LoC) and the river water has to be shared with Pakistan. Gurez came under a shelling attack in 2016 while the dam was being built, but compared with other regions along the LoC, the place has remained fairly peaceful.
Today, New Delhi and Islamabad are locked in a war of words over the Kishanganga Hydro Electric Project. Built by India, the multi-crore dam that spreads from Gurez to Bandipora is estimated to produce 1,713 million units of electricity per year. The power project has resulted in the two countries being at loggerheads yet again in a bid to establish one’s political prowess over the other.
War on water
In 1960, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty negotiated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The treaty spells out the consumption pattern of the five major tributaries of the Indus River – Beas, Ravi and Sutlej (Eastern rivers) and Jhelum and Chenab (Western rivers). The Eastern rivers are open for unrestricted usage in India, while India must ensure that the other two are available for unrestricted use in Pakistan.
‘Restricted’ usage means that the river can only be used for ‘non-consumptive’ requirements. Meaning, water can be used only in a way that it does not diminish the volume within the “practical range of measurement”. “The term does not include agricultural use or use for generation of hydroelectricity power”.
While the treaty was signed as a bilateral mechanism to resolve disputes, the two nations did not let the river flow without establishing their differences loud and clear.
Three years after work on the Gurez dam began, Pakistan dragged New Delhi to the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague, claiming India was violating the provisions of the treaty. That is, by constructing a dam India was in violation of the condition that it would not use the river for consumptive purposes. In 2013, India celebrated when the court gave a green signal to the ongoing construction. The international court laid out the condition that India must release a minimum flow of nine cubic metres per second into the Kishanganga river at all times to maintain environmental flows. Adhering to this, the construction work continued. In 2006, noting Pakistan’s objection to storage cum electricity, India reduced the height of the dam from 97 metres to 37 metres.
According to professor Shakil Romshoo, Head of Department, Earth Science at Kashmir University, the Kishanganga project has become yet another issue for India and Pakistan to express their mutual distaste. According to him, the two countries should have ideally acted upon Article 7 of the Indus Waters Treaty to build one single hydropower plant that could have benefitted both nations. “In a time like this, that would have sent such a positive confidence-building message,” Romshoo said.
Last week, a few days before the project was ‘remote inaugurated’ by PM Modi from Srinagar, a four-member delegation in Pakistan raised concerns with the World Bank. Pakistan alleged that, without stating a resolution with regard to the dam dispute, India will be violating the treaty.
Dammed
As night falls in Gurez, moonlight is the only major source of light for locals walking on the streets. As romantic as that may sound to a tourist, the fact is Gurez is in desperate need of electricity. The main city of Dawar in Gurez receives just 4 hours of electricity every day—an additional one hour during Ramzan. BSNL is the only phone connection that works in Dawar. “Yes, BSNL works here but in a way where, if you’re lucky, on your 10th attempt, you will manage to say ‘hello’ to the person you’re calling,” Mohammad Abdullah, a daily-wage worker, said.
But Gurez has witnessed an exciting few weeks. The Dawar town is now dotted with Reliance Jio promotional stickers. A tall Jio tower stands in the middle of a field. In a few days, the people of Dawar should have access to the Jio network.
Jio stickers in Gurez
When they are not talking about accessing a better phone network soon, the Gurez locals have a lot to say about the Kishanganga Hydro Electric Plant. Many here have worked as contractual labourers on the project for the last few years. An NHPC official confirmed this. “Only during winters, when most villagers move out of Gurez, we brought in outsiders, mostly Punjabis, to work on the project,” the official said.
As with every dam that is built, this one too has faced some backlash from the community. Mohammad Shafi Lone, the Tehsildar of Gurez, said: “Most of our construction material—sand and stone—used to come from where the dam is now constructed. Where will we get this material from now?” He also added that around 2 lakh trees were felled to clear land for the dam. This means less firewood for winter.
As with every NHPC project, 12 per cent of the power generated from the dam is expected to go to the host state, and an extra 1 per cent reserved for the host district – Bandipora. The rest goes into the national grid. “1 per cent is a lot in terms of power, and considering the population in Gurez, it should be more than enough. It is now up to the district administration to decide how to optimise it,” the NHPC official said.
According to the official, the project has taken up both private land and forest land in Bandipora and Gurez. In Bandipora, as per the J&K Land Acquisition Act, the locals have been compensated with Rs 3 lakh per hectare. In Gurez, the NHPC privately negotiated and compensated locals with Rs 5.75 lakh for each hectare. The project has taken up 256.6 hectares of private land and 125 hectares of forest land. As many as 143 families in Gurez and 5 families in Bandipora have been “fully affected” in the process. By fully affected, the NHPC means their houses have been destroyed. Some 166 families in Bandipora and 487 in Gurez were partially affected. “They have all been duly compensated,” the official said.
The locals worry that due to the increased accumulation of water, the winters will be much harsher going forward. But the official at NHPC disagrees. “The winter is already harsh. There won’t be much difference,” he said.
While Professor Romshoo believes that 1 per cent of power to Bandipora could highly benefit the state, he has his doubts. “Yes, 1 per cent is more than enough for the district but wherever NHPC has set up projects in Kashmir they have not lived up to their claims,” he said.
Professor Romshoo also added that like every other dam, this project too has harmed the environment. “Even if they got a clearance, there is no doubt that life in the river has been affected. The forests have been inundated and cut down, land sliding will increase and climate will be affected,” he said. But he does believe that the project has paid fair compensation to the locals.
Today, the dam is fully operational.
Who are the Gurezis?
“When did you arrive from Kashmir?”, a local asked. Just as how Kashmiris separate their identity from the idea of being an ‘Indian’, most people in Gurez don’t consider themselves as Kashmiris. But there’s a difference. The distinction made by Gurezis does not stem out of any anger or frustration as it is with many Kashmiris. Instead, it is a very organic distinction. The locals belong to the Dardic tribe and speak an Indo-Aryan language called Shina. Before Partition, Gurez was part of southern Gilgit-Baltistan. Most Gurezis still have family members in Gilgit-Baltistan as well as other parts of Pakistan. If you ask a common Gurezi if he is Kashmiri or an Indian, he will say: “Hum tho Shina hai (We are Shina).”
Abdullah, the daily-wage worker, pointed to a tall, grey hill and said: “Beyond that lies Pakistan.” Gurez is gripped by a certain kind of calm that is impossible to find in most parts of conflict-ridden Kashmir.
Gurez
Mohammad Abdullah
This is because Gurez is physically and emotionally disconnected from Kashmir.
The latest India-Pakistan standoff may involve Gurez but the locals don’t seem to have much say in the geopolitical tug-of-war. What they are more interested in is electricity, internet, Facebook, WhatsApp and movies.
In Dawar, sitting with a few local men, I asked them how they felt about the Kashmir conflict. “It’s a headache mostly,” said Javed Ahmad. “Well, we Shinas mostly support India but because we live in J&K, we will have to accept whatever happens to Kashmir.”
It is impossible not to notice the comradeship between the Army and the locals—a rare sight in most other parts of Kashmir. It seems like the locals here have accepted them as part of the environment.
When asked about why they support India, the answer is simple and practical. “The winter is harsh. It is the Army which helps us with medicines or transport in case of an emergency. Poverty is also high but because of the Army, most of us are now employed by them as porters or small-time workers. So, we support India,” he said.
“We have nothing to do with this Aazadi. In fact, it’s a pain because we fear to send our children to study in Kashmir because of the situation. And here because of lack of electricity and internet, they can’t compete with the other kids outside,” Ahmad added.
Around 50kms from Dawar, is Dangi Thal. ‘Dangi’ as they call it, is divided into Dangi I and Dangi II.
Dangi II
From the river you can see the two hamlets on the steep slope of a hill, a few meters apart from each other. Walking across the makeshift bridge, Army men and villagers are relaxing at the foothills. The men in uniform seem to be cooking lunch, while the villagers are just sitting around, talking, sleeping, lazing.
Dangi I has five wooden houses and Dangi II another six. A few more wooden structures serve as storehouses of firewood and dry food. Dangi I houses 20 people and Dangi II has about 35 residents. Each house has 2 big rooms and a kitchen. Both houses are spotlessly clean, the earthen stove swept clean and the utensils beautifully arranged.
Utensils inside a house in Dangi I
The villagers grow potato and mostly live off rice and potato. The animals they rear give them meat and milk. During winters they mostly consume dried food. The rest of the ration is purchased from shops in the neighbouring villages. The families spend their summers preparing for winter, that is collecting firewood and drying food. The winters are spent waiting for summer. And monsoon is spent avoiding landslides. All of them are Sunni Muslims. In fact, the Gurez locals are mostly Sunni Muslims.
“I want to use Facebook,” said Imtiaz Khan who wrote down my Facebook name so he could add me as a friend when he travels to Srinagar and can access the internet.
Basir Khan, 40, sounded exhausted. “Even God probably doesn’t know that we exist,” he said. “Every night, we see other villages light up with electricity and we go to sleep next to our firewood. It’s unfair.”
There are solar panels visible in both villages but the villagers claim they are dysfunctional. “The Army installed it for us but it no longer works,” said Shamsuddin Khan.
Tasleema is fascinated by my camera. Tasleema is a Class 11 student. The children of the village now go to school. Most of them study in Gujran, a few kilometres from the village. Tasleema doesn’t like school.
“It’s a waste of time,” she said. “I’m not going to do anything with it. But I would rather go there than spend my day carrying firewood.”
Tasleema has a boyfriend in Srinagar. Most villagers said they have had or will have love marriages. She said she meets him whenever she visits Srinagar occasionally or during winter. “I want to WhatsApp him. What if he gets bored of me because we can’t talk?”
Tasleema
In Dangi Thal also, most youngsters do not have any particular affiliation to Pakistan because they don’t really know much about it. I ask Begum Mali about Pakistan. Mali is over 90 years old, the oldest in her village. Mali has lived on the same soil all her life but has lived in both India and Pakistan. She was young when India was partitioned.
Mali said ever since her land was called India, she has seen peace. Mali has never seen electricity in her life. In fact, she said she doesn’t understand why the youngsters are asking for it. “I have lived a perfectly fine life. I didn’t lack anything so what is the big deal about this electricity,” she asked.
Begum Mali
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