Despite Kargil War being considered one of the smallest wars in history in numerous terms including duration, geographical scope and scale, deployment of forces and military objective, the Kargil War led to the displacement of large numbers of people on both sides of the war, India and Pakistan. About 20,000 people had to flee from only the Kharmang valley, which is situated close to the Line of Control in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Similar numbers were displaced on the Indian side as well, however, these people were able to return to their homes after the war was over.
During the war, Pakistani army personnel ordered the locals in border regions to leave the area due to the strategic importance of the border regions in fighting the war, however, the locals weren’t given any temporary facilities for the duration of the war and were on their own to relocate themselves. Most locals fled to Skardu, about 150 kilometers north of the Kharmang valley. After the war was over, the locals were allowed to return to their land, however, at this point, most of the houses, orchards and livestock in the region had been damaged or destroyed due to the shelling and use of weapons in these regions. This left the displaced locals with nowhere to live with homes being destroyed and no means of economic sustenance with the loss of livestock and destruction of orchards. Although some families chose to return to their homeland, most were forced to move to cities such as Islamabad and Karachi in order to survive or remain as refugees in Skardu.
Furthermore, the permanent establishment of bunkers, barracks and tracks in the border regions after the end of the conflict has made these locations no-go regions for the locals. In two separate cases, the government established the payment of a 110m rupee and 1.9m rupee payment package owing to the loss of land for the locals due to military occupancy, however, these have not been paid despite a court ruling supporting the landowners in the latter case. Through the years, the loss of land has manifested into more than a simple means of a loss of shelter and food to a more complex loss of identity and culture with the disruption of community and culture of the land. Those displaced by the Kargil War identify this phenomenon with the loss of agricultural activities such as grazing goats and growing barley crops which were characteristic as a form of sustenance and community in these regions.
In this scenario, there remains much the Pakistani government and military can do to restore the land to the locals including providing economic aid to the locals to rebuild homes and provide volunteer forces and supplies for cleanup efforts in the area.