'Fear of death has forced us to leave our homes'

As the sun sets behind the Shivalik Range, frightened people in this border town begin fleeing towards safer places to save themselves from the continuous shelling from across the border.

It has been a routine for them to leave their houses in the evening since five people in the town were killed and 35 injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani Rangers on the intervening night of October 5 and 6.

As this reporter reached the outskirts of Arnia around 6 pm to assess how civilians were bearing the brunt of the border hostilities, dozens of people were moving out of the town in tractors, private vehicles and motor bikes.

Two retired government officials stopped me from moving ahead. “If you listen to my advice, don’t go inside the town as it is too risky. Pakistanis start shelling as soon it gets dark,” Som Raj, a retired postman told me.

“Fear of death due to shelling has forced us to leave our homes. Why do you want to risk your as well as our life by going inside the town. I have never seen such massive firing. Bombs are falling on houses,” Raj said when I insisted on going ahead.

His colleague Jaspal Seni, a retired zonal educational officer, however, agreed to accompany me. “Son, the life and death is in the hands of Bhagwan (God). I will accompany you into the town and show you how Pakistanis have destroyed this town,” he told me.

Once inside, Seni identified dozens of places which had been hit by Pakistani shells in the last few days. The town, like many others along the volatile border, is empty. The houses are locked and only cattle and dogs could be seen on the streets.

“The last few nights have been like script of a horror movie in Arnia village. Pakistani troops pound the civilian areas with high calibre mortar shells. It seems as if the angel of death is dancing in the town,” he said.

Nearly 10,000 people living in the area have shifted to safer places in the last five days. “We have shifted our families to safer places and only elders come here in the day to feed the cattle,” Seni said.

Pointing to a dark stain on the ground he said, “Look, you can still see the bloodstains.”
One can see blood-stained beds, dismantled roof-tops, slippers strewn all over, and windows punctured by bullets. The stink emanating from carcasses of cattle lying on the roads makes the situation more scary. “Dozens of cattle have died in the last one week due to the shelling and nobody dares to remove the caresses as the threat of being caught in the shelling looms large here,” Seni said.

Recalling the first night when the shelling started on the town, he said, “When firing started we thought it would be routine one. But, when heavy mortar shells started pounding our homes I heard cries of frightened people. It was our worst nightmare.”

Meanwhile, fearing that Pakistan may push infiltrators from across the border taking advantage of the skirmishes, security forces have been alerted on the roads leading from border villages to the city and within the villages.