Homes destroyed, livestock riddled with bullets and a lifeless body of a woman
URI (KASHMIR): The guns fell silent at the end of daybreak, but not before leaving a trail of destruction—homes reduced to rubble, families torn apart, and dreams crushed under the weight of mayhem caused by last night’s bombing from across the Line of Control (LoC).
Images emanating from the villages tucked away in otherwise serene hills such as Gingal, Dardkote, Kamalkote, Silikote and Lagama show homes destroyed, livestock slaughtered with bullets strewn about and the lingering grief.
After Poonch city and its neighbourhood where 13 civilians including two women and four children were killed and more than forty injured the night before, it is the Uri region of the Kashmir Valley which has borne the brunt of the heavy artillery shelling from across the de facto border. “The shelling was so intense and widespread that many shells struck also Boniyar and Mohra which are not situated directly on the LoC itself,” said an official who was part of a rescue team rushed to the affected villages from district headquarters Baramulla.
At Mohra, a lieu de mémoire as Kashmir's first hydroelectric plant was established in 1902 by Canadian-born engineer Major Alian de Litbniere here, a woman was killed and another and a man injured in the bombing. In fact, the trio were moving in a car towards the Baramulla town to escape the shelling. But while driving on the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar Road that runs on the left side of the river Jhelum, their car was hit by a mortar.
The tragic death of Nargis Begum and injuries to two other family members have left behind their loved ones grappling with unbearable pain. There is mourning, shrieks, and sobs. The families whose houses have been broken down into debris or reduced to skeletons of charcoal are shattered by loss. This correspondent met one Nazir Hassan whose three buffaloes and two goats perished apart from damaging his dwelling at Gingal, the worst hit in the previous night’s shelling. The grief has consumed him completely.
One of his neighbours who now lives in a makeshift shelter with him here said, “You know, for us our sheep and cattle are like our own children and losing them is deeply painful. It is a traumatic experience and that is why he has been reduced into a statue of grief, unable to talk.”
The cross-LoC shelling and the resultant death and destruction have prompted evacuations. Like in Poonch, Akhnoor, Karnah and some other affected areas, the authorities have moved dozens of families of frontline villages of Uri sector to makeshift shelters here and in Baramulla town where they are being served free- of-cost food and beverage, bedding essentials and medicines.
There is fear writ large on the faces of the people who have been forced to seek refuge in a government degree college and other safer locations here in the Uri town. Some families are going down to “more secure” Baramulla. They are writhing in both physical and emotional pain. “Shells rained down in rapid succession. The situation there was worse than hell. There was a feeling of despair or hopelessness…every one of us thought the end of life had come,” said Amjad Hussain who along with his family left their shattered home at Dardkote at first light on Friday to reach here.
The displaced and many of those who have not left their homes yet were visited by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha later during the day to give them some useful tips on how to secure themselves from the cross-LoC bombing and firing. Acknowledging that there are fewer village-shared shelters in Uri, the Lt. Governor promised, “There will be a need for new bunkers, so in the coming days, that will be built too”.
During his interaction with the border dwellers, he also assured them that the J&K administration is making an all-out effort to provide them necessary help. Mr. Sinha wrote on ‘X’, “Took assessment of the damage to the civilian area and residential houses caused by unprovoked shelling by Pakistan in the border villages of Lagama and Gingal in Uri. I’ve directed the district admin to provide immediate relief to the affected families and ensure their safety and security.”
“The nation is standing strong with the affected families,” Mr. Sinha said, adding that the injured and the families of those who died are being ex-gratia relief and that the loss to the properties is being ascertained.
