Thousands forced to flee homes on India-Pakistan border

By Shazia Yousuf

SRINAGAR, Indian-held Kashmir

As intense shelling continues across the working boundary between Indian and Pakistani border forces in the divided Kashmir, tens of thousands of villagers have been forced to flee their homes to safe-shelters set up by administrations of both countries. 

Until October, violations of a ceasefire set in 2003 were only occasion but there has since been several rounds of clashes between the two countries.

“We barely survived with our lives, leaving behind our homes and our cattle,” Shyam Kumar, a resident of the Samba area. 

Kumar told The Anadolu Agency that this is the third time since October last year that he and his family have left their homes to save their lives. 

“We are living the lives of refugees and we see no hope. Only more and more firing on our houses, field, cowsheds.”

According to the Indian authorities, more than 10,000 civilians have migrated from their villages on the Indian side.

"More than 10,000 villagers from border areas have been shifted to safer places and the number is expected to increase," said Shantmanu, the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu region.

A tense situation prevails along the more than 220 kilometer boundary between the two neighboring arch-rivals and more than 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since October last in the cross border ceasefire violations.

“50 villages and many border posts were targeted in Kathua up to 2300 hours on Monday and the shelling resumed around 0400 hours today,” said Deputy Commissioner of Kathua, in Indian-held Kashmir, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary. Choudary also said that the mortar shells from Pakistan landed about four kilometres inside the Indian territory.

Hundreds of villages lie along the border, most of them dependent on agriculture and livestock for the livelihood of their populations. Villagers said that the heavy cross border shelling not only affected their harvesting last year but also has littered the fields with unexploded shells while ruining their houses with mortar shells.

“20 houses in our village have been destroyed and our farms are littered with shells, scores of them unexploded,” Kamesh Singh, 37, a resident of Mangu Chak village along the Indo-Pak Working Boundary told the AA. “Our children are shivering in the cold and we can't do anything.”

Singh said that the shelling along the border only seemed to escalate and they saw no hope of returning to their villages any time soon.

Thousands of villagers lie huddled in dozens of temporary makeshift shelters on the Indian side that the Indian government has set up.

The new spate of ceasefire violations come two months after the last major escalation that displaced 32,000 border residents in September 2014.

Both India and Pakistan have been blaming each other for violating the ceasefire and in the absence of diplomatic talks, both countries have been bullish in their statements.

While the Indian Home Minister said that they will raise the costs for Pakistan, the Pakistani defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told the press that India wanted to keep Pakistan busy in a 'low-intensity' war and that "Pakistan would speak to India in the language they understand."

Since October 6, when firing along the border became a regular occurrence, more than 23 civilians have been killed on both sides, while more than a hundred have been wounded. Thousands have fled their villages leaving behind their homes, cattle and possession to safe shelters set up by the district administration.

The border in Kathua and Samba flared up in the present spell of violence on New Year's eve with Indian and Pakistani forces using heavy mortar fire against each other.

On Jan. 2, a 45-year old woman was killed and 13 others were injured in Samba region on the Indian side while a 13-year old Pakistani girl was killed in the ceasefire violations.

On Dec. 31, two Indian Border Security Forces Jawans and two Pakistani Rangers were killed in the border firing.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.

The two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in Indian-held Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict so far.