URI (Baramulla): Fear deepened for the residents of north Kashmir’s Uri after India and Pakistan exchanged heavy fire including targeted strikes in each other’s territory-mostly in the divided parts of Kashmir on both the sides.
On May 5, India asked several of its states to conduct mock drills on May 7 to prepare for an ‘attack’. So, its move of striking Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Pakistan on the intervening night of May 6 and May 7 took everyone by surprise.
India said that it conducted nine targeted strikes in Pakistan on ‘terrorist infrastructure’. Pakistan retaliated, claiming downing of Indian jets. According to reports, Pakistan also bombarded the Line of Control on the Indian side in Uri and Keran in north Kashmir and Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu province.
Ten confirmed deaths with over 25 injuries have been reported from Rajouri-Poonch sector, spiking fears and tensions among the villagers sitting at the borders, who were already on the edge since the escalation of tensions between the two sides in the aftermath of the Pahalgam killings.
While India celebrated the attack as a response to the Pahalgam killings for which India blames Pakistan based Laskhar-e-Toiba, and Pakistan further retaliated with military strikes, 100-kms away from Srinagar along the Line of Control in Uri, 33-year-old Fahtima was worried for her three kids.
She has witnessed several violent confrontations between the two nuclear neighbours. She has seen how her frontline village bears the brunt of the anger of two armed giants.
But today, with the dearth of bunkers in her Balkote village of Uri, she, like many residents there, is finding it hard to find a safe place for her and her children.
During the Indo-Pak war in 1999, the administration in Kashmir with the help of locals constructed several mud bunkers. Overtime, due to consequent shelling that took place intermittently before the recent ceasefire agreement in 2021, and the 2005 earthquake that created havoc in Uri, those bunkers are worn down, in many cases even their remnants are not visible today.
“Bunkers that were built personally or by the government decades earlier were destroyed by the 2005 earthquake,” says 37-year-old Abdul Wahid, a labourer by profession.
“Both sides are bombarding each other, where will I take my children?” Fathima asks anxiously.
Her village is one of the frontline areas in the town of Uri and is among the most impacted during the artillery firing. The U-shaped village has Pakistan on three sides, and on much higher ground.
“If they (Pakistan) become frenzied, they will start shelling from all the three sides,” locals from Balkote said.
There are no community bunkers in the village, only four private bunkers located under newly constructed homes, locals told and showed Kashmir Times.
Balkote has about 1300 families, and even if the residents want, they cannot even cram into the available bunkers, locals said.
In times of an emergency, it is physically impossible for some to run to these bunkers as these houses are far away, they said, referring to the topography of the area where houses are sprawled across the hills.
Without community bunkers, the people of this village will die, said Fathima.
In pursuit of safeguarding their children, residents like Shakoor Ahmad Parray started to construct their own bunkers, however, with Kashmir’s strangulated economy, he was unable to finish the construction.
After the government’s haywire distribution of bunkers in 2019 - leaving some villages without bunkers - Parray took it upon himself to secure his family.
“However, after spending nearly Rs 65,000, my bunker is still without a proper slab and protection,” Parray told Kashmir Times.
He had arranged that money by borrowing from friends living in the city, and after clearing his debts last month, Parray thought of finishing the bunker by the end of this year.
“But it is impossible to arrange money at such a short notice, that too in present circumstances,” he says.
Like other residents of Balkote, he has urged the government to order and sanction the construction of bunkers without a day’s delay.
The sudden escalation allows no time for residents to make their own bunkers.
“We don’t even have material for that. We don’t have wood, shingle stones, or enough money to make our own bunkers. How will we construct them?” asks 72-year-old Mohammad Younis.
While Balkote has four private bunkers, Thajal village has only one private bunker, says Rukiya Begum, a resident.
“We don’t have bunkers, no one here has bunkers. There is only one private bunker here which they use for their own family. We can’t go that far to take shelter,” she told Kashmir Times.
The village comes under heavy firing, and Begum is urging the government to construct bunkers so the locals can “at least save the kids.”
On Wednesday evening, the J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called an emergency meeting with Deputy Commissioners of all border districts to assess the situation in the wake of intense cross border shelling in these districts.
The situation and preparedness to deal with exigencies was reviewed in view of the current developments and escalating tension particularly along the LOC and districts close to the international border.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister gave directions to immediately release Contingency Funds of Rs 5 crore to each border district and Rs 2 crore each to other districts so that Deputy Commissioners are equipped to deal with the emergencies arising and requiring availability of adequate resources. CM directed that frontier districts be accorded special priority in the disbursement of these funds, read a government handout.
As per the handout, Abdullah asked for strengthening infrastructure with regard to providing shelters and bunkers for people in border areas, keeping evacuation plans ready, and ensuring sufficient food supplies.
Abdullah has also directed the Health Department to “maintain sufficient stock of essential medical supplies, ensuring availability of doctors, paramedics and keeping blood supply ready in case of any depletion in hospitals, especially in vulnerable areas.”
He also directed health officials to move ambulances to the border districts witnessing cross border shelling so that in case of any casualty, the injured are rushed to the hospitals, the handout added.
However, the execution of these orders, especially the construction of bunkers, seems a distant dream for the residents of Balkote and Thajal, who have seen no new construction of bunkers for decades now.
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