Srinagar : Indian-administered Kashmir – Four Indian soldiers, including an officer, have been killed in the latest
cross-border clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, deputy commissioner of Rajouri sector, stated the four troops were killed and one wounded after the Pakistani army opened fire on Indian posts in the Jammu region on Sunday evening. “The situation is tense currently on the border,”Choudhary said. “The latest shelling was ongoing until late on Sunday,” he added. “Most of the areas near the border have been affected due to the ceasefire violation. Though it is difficult to evacuate the civilians at night, we are continuously monitoring the situation,” said Choudhary. Officials ordered the closure of schools near the border for the next three days. There was no immediate response from Pakistan.
INCREASED HOSTILITIES
Hostilities between India and Pakistanhave increased on the de facto border since last month. More than a dozen people, including six civilians, were killed in January with deadly clashes between the two countries continuing for three days. Despite a 2003 ceasefire, India and Pakistan regularly trade fire across the so-called Line of Control (LoC), the military emarcation betweenthe Indian and Pakistani controlledparts of Kashmir.India regularly accuses Pakistan of aiding fighters in crossing the LoC to attack Indian targets. Pakistan denies the allegations.
The civilian population living near the border has been severely affected because of the latest violence between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Earlier on Sunday, a teenage girl was wounded in the Poonch region.Since independence in 1947 from Britain, India and Pakistan have fought two of three wars over Kashmir, which both countries claim in its entirety.
Tens of thousands of people have died in the decades of violence.Way back ,villagers at the forefront of Pakistani shelling say they feel they are in a war zone with sounds of mortar bombs and rattle of automatic weapons booming in the area.In the hamlets, devastation is visible all around — blood stains on the floor, broken windows, injured animals and splinter marks on the walls.
Dressed in battle fatigues and bullet proof jackets, jawans of the Border Security Forces crisscross through borderline hamlets and paddyfields to take position to give a befitting retaliation.
Some families that had initiallydecided to hold on to their homes have finally decided to move after intense shelling.Night after night, 80-year-old Yashpal and his family huddled together under a bed in one corner of their room as soon as the shelling started. After heavy cross-border shelling for over two days, the familyfinally decided to leave their home along the India-Pakistan border yesterday.On Friday night, the situationgot worse and two shells hit our house and damaged it, he said.“It had happened during the 1965 and the 1971 wars.Such large number of mortar bombs had not since fallen in Arnia,” he said.Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), R S Pura, Surinder Choduharytold PTI that, “Arnia town has been vacated. We have evacuated large number of people from Arnia and border hamlets…Most of hamlets are now vacated”.
Mr Choudhary, who led the police from the front in carrying out massive evacuation of the order population from R S Pura and Arnia sectors,said houses and cattle have bore the brunt of the shelling.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu,Kumar Rajeev Ranjan said 58 villagesin Arnia and Suchetgarh sectors of Jammu district have been affected due to the shelling by Pakistan.“Over 36,000 border dwellers have migrated from their homes”, the DC said and added that 131 animals have been killed, 93 injured besides damage caused to 74 buildings and houses. While most of the border dwellers are living with their relatives, over 1000 are camped in boarding and lodging places setup by the governmentin schools.Over 5000 cattle have been shifted from various border hamlets to safer places, he said. In Samba and Ramgarh sectors of Samba district, over 5000 people have migrated besides over 3000 from Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.
Hundreds of grass houses (Kullas) have also been gutted and bovines killed in fire triggered by bursting of mortar bombs fired by Pakistantroops in Jeora farm, popularly known as “hamlet of milkmen”. The hamlet houses over 100 families and is famous for supplying milk and other milk products to Jammu.Another Arnia dweller Asha Rani, who fled her house along with her family of five in a bullock cart, said “People have not seen such intense firing and shelling even in the 1965 and 1971 wars. Pakistan was solely shelling us (civilians) in Arnia”. It is also for the first time that shells fired by Pakistan exploded in Gajansoo town, killing a 25-years-old. As this PTI correspondent was on his way to Kanachak to report the ground situation, two mortar bomb shells exploded barely two kilometresahead at the Ganjansoo bus stand triggering fear among residents.
At Gal-da-Chak, 500 meters from the spot of the shelling, people stopped vehicles, asking visitors not to move ahead in wake of the shelling.Pakistan Rangers started shelling areas along the IB on Wednesday and till now nine people including 6 civilians and 4 jawans have been killed and nearly 60 people, including over 50 civilians, injured along the IB and LoC in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region.Over 300 educational institutes have been closed for the next three days along the IB and LoC in Jammu region by authorities in the wake of tension along the Indo-Pak border due to shelling.