Chrar Rising From The Ashes

The centuries-old pilgrim town looked like a bombed-out war zone full of debris after large parts of it were burnt during an army operation to clear it of militants led by the dreaded Major Mast Gul in the first week of May, 1995.

Today, it's bustling with construction, most of the burnt-out shells of old houses replaced with spanking new ones and new colonies springing up on the outskirts for those who prefer more spacious alternatives to the congested neighbourhoods in which their old houses were.

The secret of Chrar's new prosperity is the central government's generosity. Rs 2 lakh and more were given to residents to rebuild every house that was burnt in perhaps the biggest tragedy of the last seven years of secessionist violence.

The result: Chrar saw the biggest turnout of voters, around 70 per cent, for the Lok Sabha elections in May. Kashmiris in other parts of the valley are cynical: After the amounts of money they got, they'll go and stuff the ballot boxes, says a houseboat owner on the Nagin lake.

In the town, electioneering was at a high pitch this morning. The main streets leading into town and the lamp posts on either side were being decked with strings of little flags, mainly of the Janata Dal, perhaps because the JD candidate lives in the centre of the town.

Two truckloads of residents waved National Conference flags and banners and lustily shouted slogans en route to hear party President Farooq Abdullah address a public meeting at Chadoora, 20 km away. Most residents who said they were willing to participate in the election process said they were rooting for either of these parties.

A Jamaat-e-Islami activist is not impressed and speaks dourly of the Kashmiris' aspiration remaining exactlyrayers, or to get their children's heads shaved for the first time.