Pak shelling injures three, 60 families flee Poonch village for safety

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Three people of a family in Ghani village of Poonch district’s Mankote sector were injured on Saturday as Pakistan continued to heavily shell border villages along the Line of Control (LoC) amid heightened hostilities between the two countries. About 60 families comprising 300 people from Mankote’s Balnoie village have fled their homes even as cross-border violence in the past few days destroyed more than 30 houses in Balakote, Mendhar and Mankote sectors.


The injured were hospitalised and are stable now. “We are poor people and cannot afford the loss of houses. We are tired of living in fear of getting killed and having our houses destroyed by shelling,” said Gulam Hussain, who lives near the border. He also accused the administration of “leaving the residents at the mercy of God without any essential commodities including ration and kerosene oil.”

In Nowshera sector of

Rajouri district

, Pakistan opened unprovoked fire and heavily shelled border villages along the LoC on Saturday. “Around 12.30pm, Pakistan violated ceasefire by initiating unprovoked firing of small arms and heavy mortar shelling along the LoC in Nowshera sector, targeting forward posts and civilian areas. Indian troops retaliated effectively,” said defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand.

J&K administration has sanctioned an additional 400 individual bunkers for Poonch and Rajouri districts, with 200 for each district. “The bunkers will be ready by the next month as per the prescribed specifications. To ensure their speedy construction, funds would be placed with the district deputy commissioners through the rural development department,” said an official. Locals said the bunkers provide border residents a safe place to shelter themselves and are an effective way to minimise casualties in cross-border violence.

On Friday night, three of a family including a nine-month-old were killed and two others injured when Pakistan shelled border check-posts and villages in Poonch district. On Thursday, a civilian was killed while three others including an Army jawan were wounded in cross-border firing in Poonch and Rajouri districts.

Amid escalated hostilities between the two countries, district authorities had on Friday ordered the temporary closure of all educational institutions located within five kilometres of the LoC and the International Border in Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu and Samba districts till further notification. Residents of border villages have been advised to stay indoors.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Indian Army chief of staff General Bipin Rawat, accompanied by Northern Command Army commander Lt Gen

Ranbir Singh

, visited the White Knights Corps headquarters to review the operational preparedness of the forces. They were briefed by White Corps commander Lt Gen Paramjit Singh, said the defence spokesperson.

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