Residents of several villages in the border areas of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir have shifted away in the wake of mounting tension between India and Pakistan, even as Army sources insisted that there was no unusual military movement across the border.
The movement began after Thursday morning’s surgical strikes by Special Forces on terror launch pads close to the Line of Control.
According to reports from Ferozpur, Amritsar, Pathankot, Jammu and nearby places, hundreds of villagers have moved to safety. In many of these places, people were evacuating on the orders of the state and district administrations.
In Punjab, the evacuation was being done on the orders of the State government, said local reports. Village sarpanchs and district officials were ordered to carry out immediate evacuation, according to the reports.
Around 26,000 border residents were shifted to safer places in Jammu region on Friday, amid two major ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops. The ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops, according to security agencies, were reported from Rajouri and Jammu districts in the past 24 hours. There were no reports of any casualty.
Reports suggest that Pakistani troops fired from small arms and automatic weapons in Rajouri district’s Nowshera area and Jammu’s Akhnoor area late in the night and in the morning. The fresh ceasefire violations fuelled migration of residents living close to the LoC in Rajouri, Samba, and Kathua districts. In Rajouri, the district administration identified trenches as shelter in case of heavy firing.
In Jammu, the district administration ordered schools close to the International Border and the Line of Control to be shut till further orders.
BJP leader and State Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Choudhary, who conducted a tour of border villages in the Suchetgarh and R.S. Pura sector, has called for “regular power supply, water supply, sanitation and information systems at the temporary shelter locations.”
Ambulances have been kept on standby. Temporary shelters have been set up in stadiums, schools and government complexes. Most schools remained closed on Friday due to tension on the LoC and the International Border.
Meanwhile, in many of the border garrisons, the Army is learnt to have instructed its personnel to immediately shift out their families. In many towns such as Rajouri, Poonch and Kupwara, military personnel have been keeping their families, thanks to the significant improvement in the situation.
A senior Army officer in New Delhi refuted the reports and said no such orders had been issued.
“There is a laid-down policy, there has not been any deviation from it,” he said. Army sources said they were keeping a close watch on Pakistan military movements. “There has been no significant increase in activity on the other side which is of any operational significance,” a senior Army officer said.
Curfew reimposed Curfew was reimposed in parts of the Kashmir Valley on Friday to keep protesters at bay.
A police spokesman said, “As a precautionary measure, curfew was imposed in a few police stations of Srinagar.” There were incidents of pelting of stones in parts of Sopore, Bandipora and Srinagar after the Friday prayers. “Forty-nine miscreants have been detained,” said the spokesman.
Fresh clashes between security forces and protesters erupted in several parts of Srinagar. Locals alleged that five protesters sustained pellet injuries in Srinagar’s Rainawari area.
In north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, scores were injured when forces chased protesters in Nadhihal area. South Kashmir’s Bijbehara area also witnessed clashes.
Militants attack patrol In south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, militants opened fire at a joint party of police and CRPF personnel in the Behi Bagh area in the afternoon. The militants fled the spot after the firing. No one was injured.
