Villagers flee as truce violated
Two people killed, three injured; all schools near LoC closed
Thirteen families, consisting of 51 people, have fled their homes and relocated to two safer places as active hostilities again broke out between the facing armies along Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Wednesday night.
While 35-year-old Akhtar Bi was killed and her husband Muhammad Hanief, 40, was critically injured in the firing from across the de facto border, the Pakistani authorities reported the death of a man and injuries to two other civilians, including a woman in the Indian firing and shelling in PoK. About forty farm animals were also killed and 27 residential houses and a school were damaged in the Pakistani firing
and shelling in Laam area of Nowshera sector of Rajouri, DC Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.
Though no fresh incident of cross-LoC firing was reported during the day on Thursday, the authorities have ordered closure of all schools and other educational institutions falling within the two kilometre range from the LoC in Rajouri district as a precautionary measure. “Also the schools where relief camps from the displaced border dwellers have been set up will remain closed on Friday,” said an official over the phone from Rajouri. “These schools in Nowshera town have been designated by the DC as makeshift accommodation for the migrants,” he added. The district administration has alerted emergency services to deal with any eventuality in view of the heightening tensions following the exchange of small arms and mortars between the facing troops. While the district administration quickly responded to the exigency, no help to the affected people came from the Army, the border dwellers complained.
The Army sources said that the Pakistani troops in their latest violation of the November 2003 ceasefire agreement fired small arms and automatic weapons to target the Indian forward posts along the LoC in Nowshera belt of Rajouri from 10.40 pm on Wednesday. “They fired 82mm and 120 mm mortars towards own forward posts and civilian areas,” the sources said adding that the Indian troops responded “strongly and effectively”. However, the civilians had received bullet injuries in the firing from across the LoC and while Akhtar Bi, a resident of Pukherni village, died in a hospital later, her husband is battling for life, the officials said.
CM Mehbooba Mufti expressed grief over the death of the woman.