40,000 people trapped behind snow walls as apathy deepens winter suffering
Marwa–Warwan cut off for months, leaving families without electricity or roads
Srinagar: The twin valleys of Marwa and Warwan in Kishtwar district of Jammu region, home to nearly 40,000 people, have once again been abandoned to winter isolation, with residents accusing the occupation authorities of criminal apathy that has worsened their yearly humanitarian crisis in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, as sub-zero temperatures set in and heavy snowfall begins to block the 100-kilometre Margan Top–Warwan–Marwa road, families have started fleeing the region to avoid the life-threatening collapse of healthcare and essential services. The high-altitude pass at 14,000 feet remains buried under eight to fifteen feet of snow for nearly six months, leaving the entire population cut off from the outside world.
Many families have already moved to Islamabad district to escape the harsh winter and the absence of medical care. Aajid, 30, a labourer from Yourdu village, said past deaths of pregnant women forced him to relocate. “I didn’t want to take any risk,” he said. “In the past, many pregnant women died because they couldn’t get proper treatment.”
The exodus is growing. Zahoor Ahmad Lone of Hajwag shifted to Kokernag after his wife’s surgery, fearing she would not survive without follow-ups. “The road can close any day now, so we had to move,” he said.
For Muhammad Sultan, 55, from Aafti village in Warwan, migrating to Kokernag every winter has become routine. “Patients and expectant mothers suffer the most. That’s why we move out for six months,” he said.
Residents who remain rush to stock up on essentials before the road closes completely. Ghulam Hassan, 60, from Astan village, said this may be his last trip until May. “Life is difficult with no proper communication or electricity. The harsh winter only makes it worse,” he said.
Despite electric poles being installed in 2017, the valleys still do not have electricity. People rely on weak solar units that fail during long winter nights. Water pipes freeze, forcing men and women to walk miles for drinking water. Mobile networks frequently fail, and residents fall back on an outdated telephone-exchange system.
The health system collapses entirely each winter. Doctors cannot reach the region, and Primary Health Centres operate without staff. “In emergency cases, many lives are lost,” said Rouf Lone, a Marwa resident.
With no road linking Marwa–Warwan to Kishtwar town and both Kokernag routes closing every winter, the valleys sink into total abandonment for half the year.
Residents say their suffering is not due to nature alone, but due to deliberate neglect by authorities who have failed for decades to provide basic connectivity to the region.
For nearly 40 villages, winter is not a season — it is a forced ordeal marked by uncertainty, deprivation and the feeling of being utterly forgotten.
