However, on Tuesday for a change, the news emanating from the area was not because of violence, but the game of football. Courtesy: Facebook
When J&K Football Association (JKFA) coined an idea to hold a night soccer match in remote Bangus valley near Line of Control (LoC) last month, the football governing body in the state had inhibitions whether the idea was worth pursuing or not.
However, Zamir Thakur, the president of JKFA and the brain behind the revival of football in the state in last one decade, went ahead with the idea despite reluctance from some quarters within his association over the security situation in Bangus area.
Bangus valley in Rajwar area of frontier Kupwara district has remained in news for the last almost three decades for gun battles between infiltrating militants and the security forces.
However, on Tuesday (September 18) for a change, the news emanating from the area was not because of violence, but the game of football.
In a rare sight in the last three decades of militancy, more than 10,000 football fans gathered at the floodlit Baki Aker ground in Rajwar, 85 km from here, to witness a historic football match.
Nightlife in these parts are rarely witnessed except during festivals - even daytime has its lurking dangers of militant strikes. The festivity in the area made the people of the remote area to forget about their day-to-day issues for some time.
“In my lifetime, I have never seen such a crowd in this area. Unfortunately, we have suffered immensely in the last 28-years due to the close proximity of the area to the LoC. More than twenty thousand people gathering at one place and that too without any security arrangements in Kashmir these days is an achievement in itself,” said Aijaz Sofi, an official of JKFA in Kupwara.
He rued that some vested interests outside the state were labelling Kashmiri youths as stone-pelters.
"The reality is that Kashmiri youth has abundant talent and can shine like stars if provided the right opportunities. Tuesday's event gave a reason for poor people in the border area to smile,” he said.
The JKFA president Thakur, who was present at the venue till late in the night said he didn’t feel that the place was close to the LoC. "Such was the enthusiasm of the football fans that for a moment, we forgot whether we are near the border or in Srinagar,” he told Deccan Herald.
Thakur, who is also Treasurer of All India Football Federation (AIFF), says that many such events are lined up in other remote areas of the state. “We want to take the game of football to every remote corner of the state as it is poor man’s game. However, for that government needs to develop infrastructure in remote areas.”