Living amid fear, dwellers along border villages shell-shocked amid fresh firings
R S Pura: Residents along the International Border in Jammu, who were hopeful of reaping dividends of the latest peace talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Russia, were left shell-shocked amid a fresh spurt in ceasefire violations.
"All our hopes have been shattered, the border residents suffer whenever there is a ceasefire violation from across the border," said Sham Lal, a resident of R S Pura.
The mainstay profession of majority people in this frontier sector on the IB is farming and occurrence of a ceasefire violation at a time when they were transplanting paddy crop has put them in a fix.
"Our sustenance depends on farming and it is the season of transplanting paddy plants but now we are afraid to venture into our fields, as we don't know when we would become a target of Pakistani fire" said Prem Singh, a resident of Abdullian village of R S Pura sector.
Pakistani Rangers on Thursday indulged in heavy firing and mortar shelling on five border outposts (BoPs) and some villages in Jammu district which left four persons injured, a day after a woman was killed in the ceasefire violations prompting India to lodge protest with Pakistan.
According to a BSF official, "Pakistani Rangers resorted to small arms firing and mortar shelling along IB in R S Pura sector of Jammu district since 0115 hours today." They targeted five BoPs and some civilian areas in R S Pura and Tawi forward belts, the official said adding that Pakistani Rangers fired 81 mm mortar shells at around 0350 hours.
Several households along the IB here sustained damages in the overnight mortar shelling from across the border, local residents said.
"You can clearly see the damage caused by the Pakistani mortar shells that landed into our courtyard, we are thankful to God that nobody was hurt or killed in our family," said Puran Chand, while pointing towards the shattered windowpanes of his house.
