Madasar Choudhary said his sister saw two children killed in the town of Poonch that bore the brunt of this week’s shelling by Pakistan, with India saying a total of 13 people died there.
“She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” Choudhary, 29, from the town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir that was bombarded on Wednesday, told AFP.
“But shrapnel hit the children — and they eventually died,” Choudhary said. His sister was still too distraught to talk.
The deadly artillery barrage that killed a total of 16 people and injured dozens more hours after India launched strikes on Pakistan.
Those was in response to an attack in the disputed Kashmir region on April 22 that killed 26 people and which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad — a charge it rejects.
Islamabad said that the Indian strikes and firing along the border has killed 31 civilians.
Dazed, shocked and in mourning, other Poonch residents described being terrified in the long hours of bombardment that began in the dead of night.
“A shell fell… It was right next to our house, where we were. It fell and we panicked… a glass window shattered,” said Shariyar Ali, 25, a student.
Ali, like hundreds of others, has since fled with his family some 30 kilometres (20 miles) away to the small town of Surankote, further away from the range of the guns.
“The shelling around my home caused many casualties”, said Kumail Nadeem, 25, another student who ran from Poonch.
“We knew personally those killed.”
“We have seen shelling before, the border is like three kilometres away,” said Zaheer Ahmed Banday, 30, who runs a small shop in Poonch.
“But when they hit the city, that was unexpected. I picked up a shirt and trousers, phone and charger, and left the house as is.”
Much of Poonch — where buildings hit by artillery fire could be seen — is now deserted, but a few people have stayed.
“Where can we go?” said businessman Arvinder Pal Singh, 40, who had hunkered down with his wife, two children and parents during the shelling.
“We spent the night huddled on the ground floor of our house. We haven’t seen this fear and shelling like this — ever.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in an address to the nation late Wednesday, vowed to “avenge each drop of the blood” of those killed by India’s strikes.
“Everyone is afraid”, said Sohail Sarwar, 30, a shopkeeper in Surankote.
This was echoed by fellow grocery store owner, Sanjay Ghai, 60, who said people were buying essential items in case of more bombardment.
“There is so much fear and panic about what could happen in the coming days. People are stocking up,” Ghai told AFP.
India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.
Muslim-majority Kashmir — claimed by both India and Pakistan — has been a repeated flashpoint.
But for younger generations, the violence was the worst they had witnessed.
“I have never seen such intense shelling in my lifetime, it is something that my parents used to tell us about”, added Nadeem.
“It is something very new for us, which is why we are also afraid.”
Iqbal Singh, 75, a tailor in Poonch, was the only non-essential business open in the market on Thursday.
“I’ve lived through 1965, 1971, 1999 wars and everything in between. This is just another episode. It’s okay,” he told AFP at his shop next to a Sikh temple that was damaged in the shelling.
“It too shall pass.”
AFP
AFP
