Border hamlets deserted as Pak shelling forces 40k people to flee
The bustling settlement of Arnia and a chain of hamlets along the Indo-Pak border now wear an empty look, with over 40,000 villagers abandoning their homes to escape heavy shelling by Pakistani forces.
Arnia town, with a population of 18,000, resembles a ghost town with only a few people left each in its adjoining hamlets to take care of animals and guard homes.
Farming, schooling, cattle rearing and everything else on which border dwellers survive have come to a halt due to the shelling episodes.
Villagers at the forefront of Pakistani shelling say they feel they are in a war zone.
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 paddy fields to take position to retaliate. Some families that had initially planned on staying have finally decided to move after intense shelling.
JAMMU:
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.
On Friday night, the situation got worse and two shells hit our house and damaged it, Yashpal said. “It had happened during the 1965 and the 1971 wars.Such large number of mortar bombs had not since fallen in Arnia.” The family left on Saturday.
Sub divisional police officer (SDPO), R S Pura, Surinder Choduhary said, “We have evacuated large number of people from Arnia and border hamlets...Most of hamlets are now vacated.”
Jammu’s deputy commissioner Kumar Rajeev Ranjan said 58 villages in Arnia and Suchetgarh sectors of Jammu district have been affected due to the shelling by Pakistan.
TWO SOLDIERS HURT IN PAK FIRING DIE, TOLL 11
Two soldiers injured in Pakistani firing and shelling on the Line of Control (LoC) succumbed to their injuries Sunday, taking the toll of people killed in border clashes in Jammu region since January 19 to 11, defence ministry sources said.
The two deceased are Sepoy CK Roy and Signalman Chandan Kumar Rai, both injured in Mankote area in Poonch district.