Panic grips border residents as Indo-Pak armies exchange shelling along LoC

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian and Pakistani armies, on Friday, exchanged heavy artillery shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

The shelling was reported from Panzgam, Malikpora, TCP, Hafrada and Ferkiyan areas along the LoC which created panic among the border residents. At Panzam, reports said, many people left their homes and were moving towards safer locations, while others had confined themselves to safer locations within their homes.

It was not only those living nearby, the shelling rattled even far off villages with some residents saying that they heard roaring sounds for the first time, an eyewitness told DH over the phone.

“The shelling was so intense and we are hearing it for the first time,” said Suhail, a resident of a village which is far away from the LoC. “The houses were shaken with the sound of the shell.”

An official said the shelling was started by Pakistan and the Indian Army responded in equal proportions. “It is a ceasefire violation as Pakistan resorted to unprovoked artillery shelling and Indian Army gave a befitting reply,” he said.

With cornavirus pandemic spreading chaos everywhere, sources said, Pakistan army was trying to take advantage of the crisis and push militants into Jammu and Kashmir.

In recent days, several attempts were made by the infiltrators with the Pakistani Army giving them covering fire along the LoC in Kupwara, Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu region.

There was a total of 646 incidents of ceasefire violations along the International Border (IB) as well as the LoC between January 1 and February 23 this year, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik had said in March.

Over 3,200 ceasefire violations by Pakistan troops were recorded in 2019. There is a 198 km IB and over 510 km of LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.