Roshan tries once more to venture out but is again stopped short on the tracks by bullets from across the border.

As one more day of the sowing season is wasted for his fertile land remains unattended, Roshan is frustrated and is seething with anger - angry because of the government's inability to provide him security.

This isn't the story of just one Roshan Lal. There are thousands of villagers like him, living in the proximity of the international border who watch helplessly, thousands of acres of land going waste as incessant firing by the Pakistani rangers prevents them from going about their daily farming activities, especially from month of June as sowing season begins then.

Andthose who dare to go are hardly able to put in a couple of hours to tend to the fields. ``The fear of being hit by a bullet is there at the back of our mind. We can hardly work in the fields,'' laments Kartar Singh, a Nikowal villager.

Though the Border Security Force and Pakistani Rangers recently entered into a cease-fire agreement for enabling the farmers to go to the fields in the sowing season, the agreement hardly holds any meaning for the villagers. ``These are all false assurances. They won't let us go to the fields. Even after we were told that a cease-fire agreement has been signed, the Rangers continue to target us,'' fumes another villager, Girdhari Lal.

Violations of the truce by the Rangers include two major firing incidents in Bobiyan and Nikowal that resulted in injuring two farmers working at their respective fields. Notwithstanding the truce, villagers claim, firing continues unabated during the night and in the wee hours.

Though denizens of more than a dozen villages dotting theIndo-Pak border have been witness to Pakistan firing earlier also, things have turned for the worse in the last couple of years. ``Pakistan firing was not an unusual thing for us. But they used to resort to it only during the night thus enabling us to go to the fields during the day. But for the last two years, we have completely stopped going to the fields as they fire at us the moment they spot us,'' says Rattan Chand, villager of Sai Kalan, adjoining Nikowal, who owns more than 60 acres of land near the border.

What has accentuated the villagers' plight is the alleged indifference of the authorities towards their problems. ``Nobody in the administration realises the gravity of the situation. Despite the worsening situation, we have decided to stay put but when there is no security, we might have to abandon our homes. And if we vacant the villages, it will be disastrous for the country,'' warns Pritam Chand of Devigarh village.

On its part the Government doled out a meager sum of Rs 3,000 for six monthsto the affected families which, according to the villagers, is a humiliation. ``If we are allowed to carry out normal farming activity in our fields, the yield will get us 100 times more than what the Government is paying us,'' complains Chand.

More than the relief, the villagers are unanimous that the Government should take some concrete steps to bring an end to the problem. ``We were told that a bund would be constructed along the border which would take care of the Paksitan bullets but nothing happened,'' said Chuni Lal of Devigarh, adding, ``We want the Centre should take firm steps to prevent Pakistani troops from firing at us.''