A month into India-Pakistan ceasefire, Uri on LoC declares: ‘Bunkers a necessity now'
Broken walls, shattered windowpanes, damaged rooftops, tattered floor covers, broken utensils, ripped blankets, torn books, hollowed out wardrobes and suitcases—these sum up the scene in shelling-hit Gingal village of Uri in north Kashmir, some 16 km from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.Sitting amidst the ruins of her two-storied home, destroyed in the long-range artillery fire by Pakistan on the night of May 9, 39-year-old Misra Begum is still unable to reconcile with the loss. 'We're homeless now; our valuables of an entire lifetime are gone. My husband is a labourer; how will we build a new one (home)?' says Begum, recounting to INDIA TODAY the family's relentless struggles over the years to put together their home.advertisementFor over a month now, Begum, her husband and children—13-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter—have been staying at a relative's home nearby. Their devastated home symbolises the carnage caused by long-range shelling in the village of around 750 households between May 8 and 10, when Pakistan responded to India's Operation Sindoor.In the vicinity, retired armyman Mohammad Naseer's home has been left with broken windows and holes in the roof. Some 300 metres away, a tw0-storied house has had its left wing, comprising four of the total eight rooms, damaged completely.
'The shelling shook our bodies; it felt like our ears were being torn apart. Had we not gathered in the kitchen, which is on the other side of the house, we would've been dead,' says 38-year-old Zahida Banoo, holding her two children. Her husband works in the Jammu and Kashmir police.advertisementBanoo, like thousands of others in Uri, had fled her home to safer places when intense shelling by Pakistan wreaked havoc on the villages of Gangil, Lagama, Gharkote, Salamabad, Paranpilla, Bandi, Lagama and Dachi, among others. She returned after spending a week at her sister's home in Baramulla and another at a rented house in Sopore.Gangil, which hosts the head office of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), overlooking the 480 MW Uri-I power project on the Jhelum river flowing beneath into Pakistan, was perhaps the worst hit. Some 30-40 artillery shells, as per locals, landed in the village. Four homes were completely damaged and another 87 partially. The highly-guarded NHPC office, spanning over six acres, was also hit by shells—the damages caused to its residential buildings.'Windowpanes broke. There was fear all over; we hid inside bunkers,' informs E. Srinivas, deputy general manager at the NHPC office.Hydropower installations near the LoC were put on high alert during the India-Pakistan offensive, owing to a potential threat from Islamabad in the backdrop of New Delhi suspending the Indus Waters Treaty after the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.Srinivas, though, says Uri-I, the 240 MW Uri-II and 330 MW Kishanganga projects were fully secured and power generation was unhindered.advertisementMehnaz Naseer, a 33-year-old woman, shudders at the mention of 'war'. The four-day horror, May 7 to May 10, has left her with nightmares. She blames the media for the war hysteria at the cost of people's lives. 'Take us out of Uri and engage in the war, as much as you can. It looks easy from inside newsrooms; if you've the guts, exchange places with us,' she says, fighting tears.It's been a month since the post-Operation Sindoor ceasefire with Pakistan, yet the residents of Uri grapple with fear and uncertainty. In recent years, the border villages here have had travellers trooping in, thanks to the tourism push by the government. Now, it has all come to a standstill.'The bullet has no eye to distinguish or differentiate. The deadly shells have damaged our buildings and left us all with lifelong trauma. We have lost sleep,' says Hafiz Zahid Hussain, a Bihar-origin moulvi at Gingal's mosque for the past 32 years.Residents recall past wars between India and Pakistan, but say the use of long-range artillery this time and the damage it caused is unprecedented. According to an official assessment by the district administration of Baramulla, Uri tehsil suffered damage to 513 buildings—60 homes and five cowsheds were razed to the ground while 436 homes and 12 cowsheds were partially damaged.advertisementIn Karnah, in north Kashmir's Kupwara, over 100 buildings were damaged. Overall, in Jammu and Kashmir, Poonch in Jammu suffered the most, with thousands of structures reported to have been damaged. Of the 21 lives lost, 16 were in Poonch alone.The conflict has also triggered a bunker crisis in the border areas. Except for a few places like Salamabad and Gharkote, the villages in Uri are largely without bunkers, making them vulnerable to shelling.Wilayat Ali, a resident of Paranpilla village, plans to construct a bunker in his farmland by taking advantage of its terraced design. 'We'll dig through the height of this land from tomorrow and concretise the hole, followed by cementing,' says Ali, sitting in his farmland by a flowing stream.The serenity of the surroundings belies the complexity of the situation. 'Bunkers are a necessity now,' decides Ali.Subscribe to India Today Magazine
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