Ceasefire violation by Pak brings back fear among J&K border residents

After more than two years, Pakistan is indulging in ceasefire violations, fueling unrest among the people residing around the Jammu & Kashmir border.

Srinagar: After nearly 32 months of calm along Jammu and Kashmir borders, the latest ceasefire violation by Pakistan in which a BSF man lost his life, has once again created an atmosphere of fear among the border residents.

The residents, who have been happy going about their daily routine carefree since the February 2021 ceasefire agreement between Indo-Pak armies, hope the truce agreement continues and they don’t have to see death and destruction once again in their lives.

On Thursday, a Border Security Force (BSF) man was killed in an unprovoked ceasefire violation along the international border by Pakistan Rangers in the Ramgarh sector in the Samba district of Jammu region.

The situation along Jammu’s IB is turning volatile as four incidents of ceasefire violations in the last two weeks triggered a fresh wave of panic among border residents. The fresh skirmishes have created a sense of uncertainty in border areas and people fear tough days ahead amid apprehension about the increase of ceasefire violations.

Tariq Chechi, a resident in the border area of Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, said every aspect of life for them is dependent on how silent the guns remain from both sides.

“The latest ceasefire violation in Jammu has sent chills down my spine. It is so scary ... It makes me remember the shells landing here and there, the ground shaking and ear-splitting artillery explosions,” he told DH over the phone.

Hundreds of people were killed and many more were maimed on both sides of the J&K border before the February 2021 truce as India and Pakistan’s armies engaged in daily lethal artillery duels and small arms clashes.

“I know pain and I know what peace is,” said Faisal Ahmad, another villager, whose daughter was killed when an artillery shell fired by Pakistani troops pierced into his house in 2013.

Thousands of people living in villages near the Line of Control (LoC) fear they will again be caught in the crossfire after the recent border clashes. “If it flares up again, we will be sitting ducks, like we were before the ceasefire,” said Shabir Ahmad, a resident of border area Tanghdar in northern Kupwara district.

“I pray sanity prevails on both armies and they don’t turn our villages into firing ranges again,” Ahmad hoped.