Six houses damaged, five cattle killed in Pak shelling in Poonch
AMID SPIKE IN CROSS BORDER SHELLING AFTER SCRAPPING OF ARTICLE 370, VILLAGERS LIVING NEAR THE LOC DEMAND BUNKERS ON WAR FOOTING
JAMMU: Nearly half a dozen houses suffered extensive damage and five cattle were killed in an overnight shelling by the Pakistan Army along the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
“At around 10:20pm on Monday, Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked heavy firing and shelling of mortars in Balakote, Mendhar and Mankote sectors, targeting villages along the border.
The exchanges stopped at around 3am on Tuesday,” a police official said.
A local from Mendhar town said, “The intensity and range of fire could be gauged from the fact that mortar shells exploded near the town creating panic among people.
Windows and doors were jolted by mortar explosions the entire night.”
“House of Mohammed Nissar, son of Abdul Rashid of Narakjind Pir village was damaged while Nissarullah, son of Dr Abdul Latief of the same village lost five buffaloes after Pakistani shells hit the house and a cattle shed on Monday night,” he added.
He said the villagers living along the LOC in Poonch have been demanding construction of bunkers on war-footing to take refuge during cross border shelling.
“Sandot, Basuni, Dabsi, Darati and Balakote are some of the villages that are virtually sitting on the mouth of Pakistan’s barrels. The bunkers are being constructed at a snails pace,” he added.
Poonch deputy magistrate Rahul Yadav said, “There was no loss of human life in the shelling but four to five houses were damaged and five buffaloes were killed. Two to three buffaloes of another man were also injured.”
The deputy magistrate said a total of 1,360 bunkers have to be constructed in the district. “Around 300 bunkers have been completed and 400 to 500 are at different stages of construction,” he said.
Yadav said the contingency plan has always been a part of SOP and the administration keeps reviewing it regularly to incorporate changes depending on the situation.
Following abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, Pakistan has been regularly opening heavy fire and using artillery on Indian villages along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu region, south of Pir Panjal.
A total of 457 villages with a population of 4,51,856 are located at the International Border and Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts.
The 198km long international border, called working boundary by Pakistan, in Jammu region runs from Paharpur on Kathua-punjab border to Chicken’s Neck area of Akhnoor, north of Jammu on the Indian side through Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts.
The Line of Control in Kashmir starts from Gulmarg in Baramulla to Kupwara and Gurez in Bandipora district and it runs from Akhnoor to Poonch district south of Pir Panjal.