‘Don’t trust Pakistan': Residents of J&K border areas afraid to return home even after ceasefire understanding

Lack of enough bunkers is one of the reasons people are afraid to go back to their homes in border towns in Jammu and Kashmir.

The residents of the border areas in Jammu and Kashmir, rattled by the four-day intense military showdown between India and Pakistan, are afraid to go back to their homes even as both countries have agreed to halt the fire.

People wait after authorities in J&K asked residents of border villages not to rush back to homes until the areas are sanitized and cleared of any unexplored shells in Baramulla. (PTI)

When the military conflict between India and Pakistan escalated, some residents in the border towns of Jammu and Kashmir were asked to flee to safer locations. These border areas, including cities such as Uri, Rajouri, Poonch, Akhnoor and others, were attacked by the Pakistani military after Indian forces attacked nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Krishan Lal, a 50-year-old tailor from Kashmir who has been living in a government shelter for almost a week after he had to flee his home, yearns to return. However, he is afraid that the ceasefire between the two countries won’t last, reported AFP.

"I am desperate to go to my village because each day I don't open my shop, I lose money," AFP quoted Lal as saying.

"But the word on the street is that the war is not over," he added.

The fears of Lal, which are shared by others too, are genuine since just hours after a ceasefire understanding was announced between India and Pakistan on May 10 at around 5.30 pm, there were reports of drone sightings in some areas of Jammu and Kashmir, just hours later, fuelling the anxiety among locals. India issued a strong statement after Pakistan violated the ceasefire.

People who had returned to their homes feeling that things would get better after the ceasefire understanding had to flee again.

Pardeep Kumar, 31, a resident of Kashmir’s Kotmaira village, which came under artillery fire just hours after the ceasefire, told AFP, "People had come back thinking it was safe now."

"But now we know better," he added.

Lack of enough bunkers is also one of the reasons people are afraid to go back to their homes in border towns. "We request the government to construct more bunkers because we don't feel safe otherwise," Akshay Kumar, 30, a resident of Naushera, told AFP.

He added that it was difficult for him to “trust Pakistan” because this time, even the areas which were never targeted saw heavy shelling.

“We cannot go back until there's absolute certainty that we'll be safe," he said.

Nirta Kaur, 52, another resident of Mankote village near Poonch had to flee her home after a portion of her home was destroyed by a shell.

"Who knows what is left of it now? But I will have to, one day or another," she said.

The authorities have also discouraged locals from returning home just yet. "We are being cautious about places within one to two kilometres (0.6 to 1.2 miles) of the border," a senior official in Jammu told AFP.

‘Operation Sindoor’

India launched Operation Sindoor during the wee hours of May 7 and attacked nine terror bases across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This was done to avenge the deaths of 26 people, most of whom were tourists, who were killed in a brutal terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

Following the May 7 attack, the conflict escalated as Pakistan targeted several areas across the border in India in states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and also Rajasthan. Many air bases were targeted during the attacks. However, almost all of such attempts were promptly thwarted by the Indian forces.

After four-days of intense armed confrontation, both the countries reached an understanding to cease fire across land, air and sea on May 10.

With AFP inputs.