After days of turmoil, sense of calm returns to border villages
Sanjeev Sharma, a resident of the border town of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), returned home with his family on Sunday after four days, only to find the first floor of their house damaged by the cross-border shelling and drone attacks from Pakistan.
His family had fled to Surankote, a nearby town between Poonch and Rajouri, after the shelling intensified on May 7, hours after Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor targeting nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives.
Also read | Objectives achieved, India sets 'new normal' in fighting terror
'We left in a hurry, grabbing whatever we could as the shelling intensified. People were terrified. There were 12 of us crammed into a single car, and the roads were jammed with vehicles trying to escape to safety. The first floor of my house has been damaged, but fortunately, we had left before it happened,' Sharma narrated.
In Poonch, which is among the worst-hit areas in the recent shelling from Pakistan amid escalating tension, as across J&K and border areas elsewhere, an uneasy calm prevailed on Sunday, a day after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border.
Residents in Poonch, which accounted for majority of the 25 fatalities in the Pakistan attacks over the last four days, hoped the fragile peace holds.
Detailed Operation Sindoor video shows before and after of India's missile strike on Pakistan terror targets | Watch
Dharam Pal Singh Jasrotia, whose house was also damaged, said he had never experienced such intensity of shelling from Pakistan in his half-a-century life so far.
'On the intervening night of May 8 and 9, a shell struck our house, but fortunately we were inside an underground bunker beneath it. Everyone is safe. Just a night earlier, we were sleeping in the very room that was hit. It's been 20-25 years since we last had to take shelter in the bunker,' he recalled.
On Sunday, many residents who had shifted to safer places nearby, started returning to their houses cautiously.
'There were only a few residents left in our locality because most of the people had left Poonch. On Wednesday, when shelling happened, a few shells struck near our house, causing damage. When the first hell struck, we went down into bunker. While we were entering the bunker, two more shells struck near our house. It was terrifying for our family,' said Dilshad, who has retired from CRPF.
Also read | Indian Navy was ready to strike Karachi during Operation Sindoor: Vice Admiral
In Punjab's Bathinda, villagers around two sensitive installations breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after a night of uneasy calmness. The district was put on a red alert for air strike a day ago.
'It's a matter of happiness for us today. There was a lot of tension in the area after a series of aerial attacks. On May 8, at least four projectiles were fired towards a defence installation in our vicinity, which were successfully shot down by the Indian forces. A series of deafening sound of blasts during a blackout caused anxiety among the villagers. We had restless nights but today we all move around the village peacefully,' Charanjit Singh, a resident of Burj Mehma village, said.
Sarpanch of nearby Kot Bhai village, Jgseer Singh, echoed similar sentiments.
Kot Bhai, just like Burj Mehma, is among a cluster of villages located near the defence base on the Bathinda-Muktsar Road.
'After a sleepless night on Friday, I was relaxing on May 10 morning when two loud explosions in a short interval shook the area. There was an atmosphere of chaos as there was a series of drone attacks on the defence base the previous day. But today I saw relaxed faces in the village, with residents feeling elated,' the sarpanch added.
At least one person had died and nine sustained injuries at Aklia Kalan, just 20km from the defence base, in Bathinda in the Pakistani attack on May 7.
Similar calmness returned to the border districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on Sunday, but the Saturday night was not as quiet there as were elsewhere.
In Jaisalmer, residents reported hearing six loud blasts on Saturday night, and hours later, a hand grenade-like object was discovered in the area and was subsequently reported to local authorities on Sunday morning.
Adding to the tension, components of a Pakistan missile reportedly shot down by Indian forces early Saturday morning, was safely disposed of in Jaisalmer on Sunday. For the disposal, a deep pit was dug in an agricultural field where the missile part was carefully placed and covered with sandbags and soil before a controlled detonation. It resulted in a loud blast that sent a thick plume of black smoke into the sky, residents said.
Despite the overnight activity, situation in the two border districts in the desert state had largely returned to normal. However, as a precautionary measure, administrations in Jaisalmer and Barmer districts announced a precautionary blackout on Sunday night. According to official statements, Jaisalmer will observe the blackout from 7.30 pm on Sunday until 6 am the following day, while in Barmer, the blackout will be in effect from 8 pm to 6 am.
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