Fayaz Bukhari
Churanda, LoC, Uri, Apr 14: Army has launched a search operation to find out the mortar shells that remained unexploded in the January firing by Pakistani troops in North Kashmir’s Line of Control (LoC) village.
Several unexploded mortar shells have been found in Churanda village after the melting of snow. Army Engineers are working with the local unit of the Army to defuse these bombs.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Baramulla based 19 Division of the Army, Major General V G Khandare, told Excelsior that 45 bombs exploded in the January 6 firing by Pakistani troops on the village while some of the bombs didn’t explode.
The GOC said that operation has been launched and such bombs would be destroyed. He said that snow has not melted entirely yet and Army is searching for bombs in the area where snow melts. “It is dangerous, we are searching for more bombs and they will be destroyed for the safety of the villagers”, he added.
These unexploded mortar shells is a new danger for people of the village especially when they have to till their fields and graze cattle. Mohammad Latif, 55, of Churanda village says that these shells that have remained unexploded are a new danger for them after last year’s firing which left 3 people dead.
“Raring of cattle has become difficult for us as we don’t know how many shells will be unexploded in the fields”, says Habla Begum. “We take cattle to those areas only which have been declared safe by the Army”, she adds.
An Army officer on the LoC said that there is uneasy calm in the village since January when heavy mortar shelling took place. He says that situation is peaceful but tension remains. “A small incident can trigger skirmishes but we are maintaining utmost restraint”, he adds.
The village has suffered huge casualties since the partition. The village head, Laldin, says: “We had a sigh of relief after 2003 ceasefire and life returned to normalcy after that. We lost 74 villagers and 45 were maimed so far due to shelling from across LoC.”
The village has 252 families with 222 living in the direct firing range of the Pakistani machine guns and mortars. The villagers are mostly Army porters and earn their living by cultivating maze in their fields.
Mohammad Latif earns his living by cultivating maze in his small piece of land and working as a labourer. He said that he earns around Rs 25000 annually as he gets few months’ work only.
Churanda village has faced the maximum brunt of the Indo-Pak hostilities. A villager Noordin lost his leg and has to feed his three daughters and his wife on Rs 750 a month he gets from State’s Social Welfare Department. He says his daughters work in the fields to earn the living but when there are hostilities and firing working in the fields is difficult. “Now these unexploded shells are a new scare”, he says.
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