The Jammu and Kashmir government told the Assembly on Tuesday that more than 5,000 families had been affected and about 15,000 people had fled their villages on the Indian side because of firing from Pakistan.
The statement came on a day India’s Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) lodged a protest with his Pakistani counterpart over the increased border ceasefire violations. The DGMOs talked on the phone for about 10 minutes during which “all relevant issues” were discussed and they agreed to hold flag meetings to defuse the situation.
While occasional firing is a feature of life in the border villages, the intense shelling over the past two weeks has completely disrupted life in the border areas of R.S. Pura and Arnia.
A small garden at the Government Girls’ School in Maulanian village of R.S. Pura is a temporary refuge for two villages, Khurdana Basti and Nai Basti. About 600 villagers came on August 23 morning after spending a night crouching on the ground.
“I didn’t know whether to console my children or cry myself,” Bimla Devi told The Hindu . “Nobody wants to die, nobody. Why have we been left to die, as if our lives meant nothing.”
Yashpal Singh, a 50-year-old villager, says: “We have spent three difficult nights. Our life is difficult but we will strive for a better future for our children.” The villagers have been demanding five ‘marlas’ of land away from the range of mortar shells and bullets, but so far no land has been given to them.
