As he lay injured in a hospital ward in Jammu on Thursday, 15-year-old Kuldeep Kumar had not yet been told that his mother and grandmother had been killed by a mortar fired by Pakistan troops on their five-room home in Chalyari village on Wednesday morning.
All the teenager could recall was the terror of the night before, when his family of eight had been confined to their one-room home as the firing caused the ground to shake. “I had to go to school next day but whole night we couldn’t sleep,” Kumar recalled. “We had decided to go to our relative’s house after firing stopped. I went outside at morning and suddenly a shell exploded. My left leg and abdomen was hit and then I don’t remember anything.”
Kumar’s mother Poli Devi and grandmother Shakuntala Devi died instantaneously. His 10-year-old brother, Khushal Kumar, father Saudagar Mal and grandfather Butti Ram were also injured. Only his sisters weren’t hit.
Intense firing
The Kumar family, who live a few hundred metres away from the 192-kilometer stretch of border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, are among the thousands of ordinary people who have been paying the price for the escalation in the ceasefire violations between India and Pakistan since October 3. Until Friday, 19 people had been killed, including 11 from Pakistan, at least 100 injured and 30,000 people displaced. The latest violation has been called the worst in a decade.
On Thursday, the Jammu district magistrate, Ajeet Kumar Sahu, said thousands of people had have been evacuated from villages in the borders areas of Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts. “Over 20,000 people have migrated from border hamlets in Jammu,” he told PTI. “People from 113 hamlets located close to the border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua had migrated and taken refuge either at shelter camps or with their relatives.”
But the evacuations are fluid. Displaced people have been returning to their villages during lulls in the shelling to feed their cattle and to check their homes for damages. Around 5.30 pm on Thursday in Chalyari, villagers were preparing to leave again because they expected the shelling to start at dusk. One of them, Vijay Singh, accompanied this reporter some of the distance to a Border Security Force post, but turned back midway. “If we keep walking, Pakistani Rangers can spot us easily and possibly open fire,” he said, pointing towards a mark of exploded shell from the previous night.
Tending the cattle
On way to the BSF post, Singh, 21, pointed to a school building that had been hit by two shells. He had chosen to stay at home despite the danger of getting killed. He was staying, he said, because of the cattle. “If everyone will leave then who will look after them?” he said.
This isn’t the first time the villagers had come under fire, of course, but the authorities have done little to ease the condition of the people in the line of fire. For instance, despite the frequent outbursts of shelling, the villagers complained that they did not have easy access to an ambulance to transport the injured. With each new outbreak of violence, the Indian government promises to shift the village to a new site, but it forgets its offer once the firing ceases.
“There should be a war now – once for all,” said Singh, who is frustrated with the regular disruptions. “It is better than leaving our homes every time. Either fight a war or stop.”
When brothers fight
Vijay Singh’s neighbor in Chalyari, Gopal Singh, expressed similar frustrations at the situation. “It has become a situation where neither of the two countries wants to give up,” he said. “Common people on the other side are also facing same difficulties. This is like two brothers fighting for a piece of land and people are being crushed.”
The consequences of the most recent skirmish were evident at the home of the Kumar family. Their room was streaked with dried blood marks, there were splinter holes in the walls, a crater in the courtyard, and a few pairs of shoes lying on the floor.
At the hospital in Jammu, Kuldeep Kumar’s relatives were doing their best to shield him from discomfort, as he lay in front of his grandfather and younger brother. Shortly, one relative shooed everyone away from the room. “They don’t know about the death of their mother and they shouldn’t be told,” he warned.
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All the teenager could recall was the terror of the night before, when his family of eight had been confined to their one-room home as the firing caused the ground to shake. “I had to go to school next day but whole night we couldn’t sleep,” Kumar recalled. “We had decided to go to our relative’s house after firing stopped. I went outside at morning and suddenly a shell exploded. My left leg and abdomen was hit and then I don’t remember anything.”
Kumar’s mother Poli Devi and grandmother Shakuntala Devi died instantaneously. His 10-year-old brother, Khushal Kumar, father Saudagar Mal and grandfather Butti Ram were also injured. Only his sisters weren’t hit.
Intense firing
The Kumar family, who live a few hundred metres away from the 192-kilometer stretch of border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, are among the thousands of ordinary people who have been paying the price for the escalation in the ceasefire violations between India and Pakistan since October 3. Until Friday, 19 people had been killed, including 11 from Pakistan, at least 100 injured and 30,000 people displaced. The latest violation has been called the worst in a decade.
On Thursday, the Jammu district magistrate, Ajeet Kumar Sahu, said thousands of people had have been evacuated from villages in the borders areas of Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts. “Over 20,000 people have migrated from border hamlets in Jammu,” he told PTI. “People from 113 hamlets located close to the border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua had migrated and taken refuge either at shelter camps or with their relatives.”
But the evacuations are fluid. Displaced people have been returning to their villages during lulls in the shelling to feed their cattle and to check their homes for damages. Around 5.30 pm on Thursday in Chalyari, villagers were preparing to leave again because they expected the shelling to start at dusk. One of them, Vijay Singh, accompanied this reporter some of the distance to a Border Security Force post, but turned back midway. “If we keep walking, Pakistani Rangers can spot us easily and possibly open fire,” he said, pointing towards a mark of exploded shell from the previous night.
Tending the cattle
On way to the BSF post, Singh, 21, pointed to a school building that had been hit by two shells. He had chosen to stay at home despite the danger of getting killed. He was staying, he said, because of the cattle. “If everyone will leave then who will look after them?” he said.
This isn’t the first time the villagers had come under fire, of course, but the authorities have done little to ease the condition of the people in the line of fire. For instance, despite the frequent outbursts of shelling, the villagers complained that they did not have easy access to an ambulance to transport the injured. With each new outbreak of violence, the Indian government promises to shift the village to a new site, but it forgets its offer once the firing ceases.
“There should be a war now – once for all,” said Singh, who is frustrated with the regular disruptions. “It is better than leaving our homes every time. Either fight a war or stop.”
When brothers fight
Vijay Singh’s neighbor in Chalyari, Gopal Singh, expressed similar frustrations at the situation. “It has become a situation where neither of the two countries wants to give up,” he said. “Common people on the other side are also facing same difficulties. This is like two brothers fighting for a piece of land and people are being crushed.”
The consequences of the most recent skirmish were evident at the home of the Kumar family. Their room was streaked with dried blood marks, there were splinter holes in the walls, a crater in the courtyard, and a few pairs of shoes lying on the floor.
At the hospital in Jammu, Kuldeep Kumar’s relatives were doing their best to shield him from discomfort, as he lay in front of his grandfather and younger brother. Shortly, one relative shooed everyone away from the room. “They don’t know about the death of their mother and they shouldn’t be told,” he warned.