Kashmir Solidarity Day: Spreading smiles in confinement

While truckers detained on both sides of LoC long for home, one driver keeps everyone happy.

MUZAFFARABAD:

How do you kill time when you are one of the 27 truckers detained at the Chakothi Trade Facilitation Centre on the Line of Control (LoC) between Indian-held Kashmir and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK)? A simple way is to sing Bollywood songs to entertain yourself, fellow drivers and security personnel guarding the premises. This is what 26-year-old Sikh driver Sunail Paul Singh of Baramullah is doing these days.

These 27 truckers from Indian-held Kashmir are stranded on this side of the LoC since January 17. Their arrest was in response to the arrest of a driver from AJK by the Indian authorities who was accused of drug smuggling. Following the incident, at least 48 more AJK drivers were detained by Indian authorities. The incident resulted in suspension of the Intra-Kashmir bus service.



AJK’s Travel and Trade Authority (Tata) retaliated and detained these 27. The suffering is on both sides of the LoC, as 49 drivers from AJK are suffering in detention in Indian-held Kashmir. Such incidents keep adding to the number of people who have suffered on account of the Kashmir dispute for decades. Thus, in all, 76 families of detained drivers on both sides of the LoC remain in a painful limbo.

Wearing a black track suit and the signature Sikh turban, Sunail Paul Singh starts the day by chanting a full-throated Nara-e-Takbeer Allah-o-Akbar (God is great). Sunail is something of a group leader. The other drivers follow suit and echo these slogans. One of these detained drivers, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that during the load shedding hours when they cannot watch the television “Sunail Paul Singh’s chinwag, singing and infectious humor keeps us alive and relieves tension.”

Playing football and cricket is one of the main activities of the stranded drivers in Chakothi Trade Facilitation Centre. Engaging in sports in the front yard of the trade terminal, the young Sunail looks more active than the others, and keeps everyone motivated. Sunail’s way of playing cricket and kicking football is distinct; the style he uses to hit the cricket ball brings smiles on the faces of the security officials who enjoy watching his game. The handsome Sikh has clearly formed bonds of friendship with the police officials as they jointly play soccer.

The trade facilitation officer (TFO) at the Chakothi terminal, Basharat Iqbal, is all praise for Sunail, confirming that he has the gift of bringing smiles on the lifeless faces of these men away from the home. “Sunail is a born entertainer.”

Sunail is aware of how he can use his positive influence to keep his friends from falling into the despairs of confinement. “I understand our predicament very well. To keep up the morale of the fellow drivers, I try my best to act in such a way that helps divert their attention from their problem and provide them entertainment. It is, of course, a tough job as I am also missing my parents, but someone has to come forward to share smiles.”

Sunail said the drivers detained on the both sides of the LoC are innocent and there must be a proper mechanism to handle such situations. In his opinion, if any prohibited item is recovered from a truck, punishment must be given to the trader, whether he is in Muzaffarabad or Srinagar. The ever-smiling Sikh driver requested the officials on both sides of the LoC to work on creating a mechanism that helps avoid such untoward incidents that have put the life of 76 families of poor and innocent drivers in turmoil.


Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.