[ruzbehxyz]

Many may have read my travelogue on Nadabet in Gujarat, which is a border outpost open for tourism. Link (Narabet: Visit to Zero Line & Border outpost in Gujarat from where you can freely take photos)
Similarly Suchetgarh is another outpost located near Jammu and open for tourism recently.

Suchetgarh border post, has been developed as a tourism spot by the state tourism department. The Suchetgarh Border post is 28 kms from main Jammu. The road to Nai Basti-Gulabgarh from Jammu follows the train route as it existed prior to 1947 and a number of old buildings can be seen on the way. Suchetgarh Post served as the route to Sialkot during the pre-partition era, which is just 11 kms from the post and earlier there was an Octroi post at this point. On the other side of the border post lies a spectacular Banyan Tree, which is as old as 100 years. In close vicinity are the "Gharana and Abdullian wet lands where migratory birds of a number of varieties flock during winter season.

Source: J&K tourism website.
Link: http://www.jammutourism.gov.in/explo...r-Circuit.html

The process for converting the place into border tourism was started few years back. However a lot more is planned and will take shape in the near future. These areas saw heavy firing and are now quite peaceful.

The road from Jammu, goes south-west towards Suchetgarh via Ranbir Singh Pura.

The route on google maps.

About Suchetgarh:-
The village is home to over 200 families who are victims of the prolonged border conflict between India and Pakistan. Most of the villagers living in Suchetgarh village share their origins with the bordering Punjab province of Pakistan. The villagers came and settled in the village in 1947 and 1965. Since then, they have been living in the village. Prior to the partition in 1947, Suchetgarh was a railway station on the Jammu - Sialkot railway line. During the Reign of Maharaja Hari Singh taxes used to be collected at this place, hence this BOP is named as Octroi.
The Octroi post of the British era is now an observation post of the BSF.
Near this BOP, is an old temple known as Raghunath temple which was constructed in the year 1837.
The border is surrounded by fields and farmers can be seen working in the fields on a normal day. This is not like Wagah border, but is fun to visit.

Enroute Suchetgarh, one passes R.S.Pura or Ranbir Singh Pura. R.S.Pura is named after the Dogra ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh, successor of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Ranbir Singh was the third son of Gulab Singh, the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir state. Ranbir Singh ascended the throne in 1856 after Gulab Singh's abdication due to his poor health. He allied with the British during the Sepoy Mutiny. Unlike European women and children, Indian mutineers were not allowed to take refuge in his state. He also sent his troops to help the British to besiege Delhi. He was subsequently rewarded for his behaviour during the mutiny. He went on to annex Gilgit which had previously witnessed a rebellion against the state. The princely states of Hunza and Nagar started paying tributes to Jammu and Kashmir during his reign. He also established a modern judicial system. Civil and criminal laws were compiled into the Ranbir Penal Code during his reign. Ranbir Singh was a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian languages and had many books translated.


Our visit on 14th August 2021:
I was accompanied with my travel companion, the mighty Endeavour and Mr. Sujeet Acharya. We parked our vehicle and entered the tourist area which was guarded by the BSF. There is a Reception centre where our ID cards were checked and details noted down. This hall also screens documentary movies about the BSF. From here one has to walk through the parade ground area to the main India gate. This area also has a milestone and a huge Indian flag. The main gate is opened for you and then you can walk upto the International border, just few feet from the zero line. There you are greeted with a BSF guard and you can chat with him.

Visitors are allowed to take photos, but no videos allowed. In addition drones are also not allowed in entire J&K.

The outer entry.

The main entry.

The milestone on the Indian side - front.

The milestone on the Indian side - back.

The 131 feet Indian flag. The flag measures 30x20 feet.

The plaque.

From here on, are photos of the actual border.

The final gate.

Pillar no. 917.

Pillar no. 918. Unique Banyan tree as International boundary.

This is perhaps the only point where a tree and not any traditional pillar demarcates boundary of India and Pakistan. The tree was not the dividing line years ago as a concrete pyramid shaped pillar number 918 stood there. However, the concrete pillar vanished within the broadening trunk of the tree with passage of time. However, the Indian BSF and Pakistani Rangers guarding their respective borders did not cut the tree and finally painted the 918 marking on the tree. With its increasing circumference, one side of the tree is in Pakistan, while one side lies in India. Near the tree, on both sides we have a concrete platform, which are used as Flag meetings between BSF and Pakistani Rangers.

Pillar no. 919 clearly visible from your position.

Additional photos:-

[ruzbehxyz]

Adjacent to the BOP, there is an ancient temple called Shree Rajhunathji temple.







This temple dedicated to Lord Ram, Sita and Lakshman, was constructed in 1837 by the Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Gulab Singh. During the Indo Pak war of 1971, lot of shells came near temple but none could blast the temple. A similar story is recited for the Tanot Mata mandir near Jaisalmer (of 1971 war fame). Don't know how far this is true.
For the Ragunathji temple the story goes like this - During shelling, two shells got stuck on the top of the temple and when it was removed from top one of the bricks fell down and damaged Statue of Lakshman, which was later re-established in presence of Dr. Karan Singh Ji.

[ruzbehxyz]

Adjacent to the border there use to be a pre-partition railway line from Jammu to Sialkot.

The Jammu–Sialkot line was a 43 km.line, branch of the North Western State Railway from Wazirabad Junction, Punjab, to Jammu, passing through the Sialkot Junction. The section from Sialkot to Jammu (Tawi) was 27 miles (43 km) long, partly in the British Indian province of Punjab and partly in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Completed in 1890 during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh, it was the first railway line of Jammu and Kashmir. Initially Maharaja Ranbir Singh (r. 1830–1885) wrote to the Governor General of India with a proposal offering to fund its construction, which was agreed. He was soon succeeded by Maharaja Pratap Singh, who continued the negotiations culminating in an agreement. The agreement stipulated that the railway would be operated by the North Western Railway, that the Maharaja would receive one per cent interest on the investment and that the earnings in excess of the one per cent would be shared equally between the Northwestern Railway and the Maharaja's government. The Maharaja's investment was close to Rs. 1 million.

The railway line ran till 18 September 1947, when the newly independent Pakistan, which inherited the North Western State Railway from British India, suspended the train service. The railway line fell into disrepair.

The remnants of Jammu-Sialkot railway line existed till recent times which included old Railway Station building at Bikram Chowk which has now been replaced by Kala Kendra these days in Jammu. And a few bridges, one at Miran Sahib near NITS college and a few at other places between Jammu and the border town of R S Pura-bear testimony to this oldest train service in Jammu. The unmanned railway crossings existed at many places on the old track with one at Nai Basti near Satwari in the Jammu city along the Ranbir Canal till recent times. But now, all these stands dismantled.


Railway timetable.
Source: Irfca.
Link: https://www.irfca.org/gallery/Herita...geViewsIndex=1



Abandoned Ranbir Singh pura railway station. The name is written in Punjabi, English and Urdu.

https://youtu.be/A7wMtfGZGtY

The good news is that the Government plans to restart the line for tourism purpose and make it operational by 2022.
Link: https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/herit...mu-suchetgarh/

[ruzbehxyz]

April 2021 update on Suchetgarh village:-

Jade log de jandene ithe qurbaniyaan, duniya chi rendiyane undeya nishaniya.

This is a folk song from Jammu. It is sung by farmers in the fields and it means the ones who render sacrifices are the ones remembered by the world after their lives. However, this tradition of singing in the fields has been on a decline, at least in the village of Suchetgarh, which is a stone’s throw from Pakistan along the International Border in Jammu’s RS Pora sector. Bombings across the border have made farming a life-threatening livelihood to pursue in this village that has a little over 200 households. Singing or being carefree is out of the question.

However, things are looking different this year. Last month, India and Pakistan declared a ceasefire — it's the first time in many decades that a truce has been called here during the harvesting season, which spans from March to April. A ceasefire was announced earlier too, during the holy month of Ramzan in 2018, but it proved to be short-lived.

In fact, India and Pakistan had signed a ceasefire pact in November 2003 but they haven’t been able to honour it, especially after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Given the chequered history of this agreement, it’s difficult to say how long the latest ceasefire will last but the locals are hailing it as the new dawn. It's been unusually quiet in Suchetgarh for the past few weeks. The thuds of the guns and mortar shells have been replaced by the carefree chirping and warbling of birds. The families are wandering into their fields without fear, admiring the crops and hoping for good returns.

As per the government records, 454 hectares of land in Suchetgarh is under cultivation and is used mostly to grow Basmati rice and maize.

“The feeling that no one is going to kill you [in the crossfire] is inexplicable. You have to experience it [to know what we are feeling right now],” shares Madhu Kumari. Her family’s four-acre farmland is the closest to this border, which the locals call ‘the zero line’.

According to Kumari’s husband Bhaga Ram, more than 20 residents of Suchetgarh have lost their lives in the ceasefire violations but none have died while working on their farmland. “But there hasn’t been a single year since my childhood when harvesting wasn’t a scary affair. All the time a sword was hanging over our head that artillery fire might hit us as we reap the year’s hard work,” the 61-year-old says.

In Avinash Kumar’s case, the mortar shell missed him by a few metres in the cross-border hostility that escalated in 2018. The violence that year was worse than it was during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, residents of the border villages have described in this report.

“I remember it was February. My father wasn’t well. So I went to the field to prepare the land as the harvest season was a month away. Suddenly I heard a loud thud and a strong blow of air threw me off to a corner. My ears were toggling with strange sounds as I tried to crawl around to take shelter. Within one hour, we all were taken away in a government bunker and later shifted to a safe-house. The land, the crops, the harvest — everything was destroyed,” remembers the young farmer.

It's a drill the residents of Suchetgarh have got used to. Every time the armies trade fire across the border, they have to flee their fields and homes and take shelter in government safe-houses. And when the tensions subside, they return to bruised homes and farmlands. Farmer Talib Hussain dubs the experience nightmarish.

“[After the skirmishes in 2018,] we would often find some unexploded shells lying around. Our own fields had become death wells for us. We were reluctant to sow the crops [the season begins from September]. We were even hesitant to harvest them,” he recalls. That year, he incurred a loss of more than Rs 2 lakh as a part of his crops got damaged in the violence.

Farming in Suchetgarh has suffered in more ways than one. The bombings have left behind toxic residue on the farmlands, turning them infertile in most places. A putrid odour greets you when you visit the fields and there is no respite from the constant buzzing of mosquitoes. In fact, according to government records, an estimated 17,000 hectares of land get destroyed due to shelling every year all over Jammu & Kashmir.

Suchetgarh’s Vinaay Kumar knows the pain of losing his land and crops all too well. He could not sow anything on his two-acre land after the intense shelling from Pakistan in 2018. “[I was hoping for a profitable yield that year]. But I got nothing at the end. I could not sow any crop the next year. The land was giving off the pungent smell of a burnt powder keg,” Kumar remembers.

The volatile situation has forced the residents to look beyond farming, which has been their traditional source of livelihood — a quintal of Basmati rice sells for Rs 4,000. “Farming is in our blood. My father often tells me that his farmland is dearer to him than his three sons,” says Avinash with a gentle smile.

But now, many have either started migrating to nearby towns or have taken up odd jobs to supplement their income. Vinaay, for instance, runs a shop to sell bicycle spare parts while his brothers work as masons. Vinaay has little choice but to do this because the compensation given to the farmers after the crop loss due to firings is too meagre to even cover the basic farming costs.

Read full story here: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/in...40581.html/amp

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[sukhbirST]

Thanks for bringing to light this part of border with nice photos and write up.
Time to plan after the railway line comes alive in 2022.
History has its own way of bringing to life so many things and old railway lines with stations are any travellers delight.

[samitjain]

I also visited this border in 2018. Nice place with lot of history.

[ruzbehxyz]

About 5 kms. from Suchetgarh is Gharana wetlands, which is home to around 5000 migratory birds.



Around 5,000 to 6,000 migratory birds of different species flock to the Gharana Wetland from the northern hemisphere during the winter every year.

Gharana, located along the Central Asian Flyway, is a notified wetland conservation reserve under the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Protection Act, 1978. It has international recognition as one of the important bird areas (IBAs) in the world, declared by the BirdLife International (UK) and the Bombay Natural History Society. A five-year management plan of the wetland has been prepared by the Wildlife Protection Department through the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which would help in conserving the wetland.

Gharana, a dying wetland, is located merely 500 m from the international border between India and Pakistan, the 200 acres of the Wetland situated in Jammu province (boundaries yet to be demarcated) harbours around 50 species of wintering waterbirds. Gharana is partially covered with various water plants — water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes, Hydrilla spp. and Typha spp. Despite being designated as a ‘Conservation Reserve’ a decade ago by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and also declared as an ‘Important Bird Area (IBA)’ by international organisations, the neglected, dying wetland is still struggling for legal status (The Times of India 2018).
The left side of the wetland is bounded by a village, Gharana (hence the name) while on the right are agricultural fields. Negative interactions between the villagers and the waterbirds are inevitable. During winters, this wetland is cackling with wintering waterbirds that even attempt to settle into the surrounding agricultural fields. The locals treat them as pests, owing to particularly one species, the Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus). According to the villagers geese raid the crops and to combat it the locals have taken to bursting loud fire-crackers to scare them away whenever they try to settle near the agricultural lands.

Source: https://geographyandyou.com/the-last...ammus-gharana/

[ruzbehxyz]

Saturday, 02nd October 2021.

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, India launched a Wagah-Attari-style BSF’s retreat ceremony at the Octrio border outpost at Suchetgarh village on the International Border.

https://youtu.be/Q2IOezM4tyA

[ruzbehxyz]

24th Nov. 2021.

Today, Commandant/Wing Commander level Border meeting held between Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers on International Border in Suchetgarh to maintain peace and harmony on International Border.





Source: BSF.