A lightning strike in a remote high-altitude pasture in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district killed 90 sheep and goats overnight, wiping out the livestock of a nomadic family whose entire livelihood depended on those animals.
The strike hit the Dhana Dok area of Poshkar Kangan in central Kashmir during the night between Sunday and Monday. The animals belonged to Mohammad Yaseen Bijran and Abdul Majeed Bijran, residents of the Sunderbani area in Rajouri district.
Locals found dozens of animals dead in the pasture on Monday morning. Police and local authorities were informed and reached the site to assess the damage.
Who the Family Are
The Bijrans are Bakarwals — nomadic herders who migrate each summer from the plains of Rajouri and Poonch to the alpine meadows of the Kashmir Valley. They travel hundreds of kilometres on foot with their families, animals, and household goods, spending four months grazing their flocks in the highlands before returning to lower elevations in winter.
For Bakarwal families, livestock is everything. It is income, savings, and food security combined. Losing 90 animals in a single night leaves the family with no immediate means of recovery.
A Dangerous Season
The Poshkar Kangan area is a high-altitude grazing belt used regularly by migratory tribal communities during the summer months. At these elevations, sudden storms and lightning strikes are a known and recurring hazard. Animals have no shelter in open pastures.
Such incidents are not uncommon during summer migration in Jammu and Kashmir, when nomadic communities move their flocks into alpine terrain that offers little protection against extreme weather.
The government has over the years created some facilities for Bakarwal families — mobile schools for children and periodic veterinary services in highland areas. Whether those provisions include any compensation mechanism for weather-related livestock loss was not immediately clear.
No government compensation announcement had been made at the time of reporting. The exact scale of the damage was still being assessed by local authorities.
The family had not been reached for comment at the time of publication.
IANS
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