Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 21: An Army soldier and a civilian were martyred while two civilians injured as Pakistan tonight heavily shelled Kanachak and Pargwal sectors in Jammu district on the International Border (IB) and resumed intermittent shelling in RS Pura and Arnia sectors while nearly a dozen Pakistanis, majority of them Rangers, were killed in retaliatory shelling by the BSF. Nowshera and Shahpur sectors on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts were rocked by fresh intense shelling and firing by the Pakistani troops this evening.
Pakistan Rangers broke the lull along the IB, which was prevailing since last evening, at 8.30 pm today by resorting to heavy shelling and firing in civilian areas of Gajansoo, Gole Pattan, New Kanachak, Old Kanachak and Pargwal, killing one civilian and injuring two others. They also started shelling border villages in RS Pura and Arnia sectors but intensity there was low as compared to Kanachak and Pargwal sectors.
Two brothers Gopal Dass Bawa and Ram Dass Bawa sons of Bansi Dass Bawa, who were returning to their house, were hit by a mortar shell at Kanachak town around 8.30 pm and were seriously injured. They were rushed to the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, where Gopal Dass was declared as dead while Ram Dass was admitted in critical condition. A woman Kanta Devi wife of Rattan Dass was also injured in Pakistan shelling in Kanachak.
Reports said several mortar shells were landing inside the villages in Kanachak and Pargwal sectors, causing extensive damage to houses and other structures of the people, besides killing and wounding the cattle.
“There was panic and chaos among the people putting up in the border villages of Kanachak and Pargwal as majority of them were staying in the villages and hadn’t migrated so far,” reports said, adding “as there was no shelling in these areas since last evening, the people were anticipating that situation has normalized”.
Yesterday, mortar shells had landed at Gajansoo Bus Stand near Kanachak in which a civilian was killed while five others were injured.
In RS Pura sector, Pakistani troops resumed shelling around 9 pm and in Arnia sector at 10 pm, but intensity was low as compared to yesterday morning when two civilians including a boy, were killed.
Sources said majority of people living within shelling and firing range in RS Pura, Suchetgarh and Arnia sectors, have shifted to safer areas-either in the houses of their relatives and friends or relief camps, set up by the administration.
Meanwhile, sources told the Excelsior that Pakistan has suffered more than dozen fatal casualties, majority of them Rangers, while large number of others were injured in Phookaliyaan-Bajwat, Chaprar, Harpal, Bajra Garhi, Charwah and Zafarwal-Shakargarh sectors of Sialkot district in very heavy retaliation given by the BSF to shelling and firing by the Rangers.
More than 20 posts and bunkers of the Rangers have been completely destroyed in retaliation by the BSF, which, according to sources, was necessitated to teach Pakistan a lesson for directly targeting the civilian population.
Sources said Pakistan suffered heavy casualties and infrastructural damage in Sialkot.
Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Dr Farrukh Naveed is reported to have confirmed to local media about more than dozen killings of Pakistani Rangers and others in heavy shelling and firing by the BSF.
More than one lakh population of Sialkot in Pakistan opposite Jammu sector, has deserted their homes for safer areas, sources said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing of mortar, small arms and automatics in Mendhar sector on the LoC in Poonch district last evening in which an Army soldier Signalman Chandan Kumar Rai was grievously injured. He was evacuated from the spot and airlifted to Military Hospital, where he attained martyrdom this morning.
Rai, 25, belonged to village Nadesar of Sakaldiha tehsil in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh and is survived by his father Satya Prakash Rai.
“Signal Rai was a brave and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty,” a Defence spokesman said.
With Rai’s martyrdom and civilian killing of Kanachak, 12 persons including seven civilians, three Army personnel and two BSF jawans have attained martyrdom during last four days of ceasefire violations by Pakistan on LoC and IB.
At about 6 pm today, Pakistan army broke day long lull on the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district by resorting to mortar shelling and firing in forward villages of Bhawani, Numb-Kaladi, Sher Makri and surroundings. The Indian side retaliated effectively, leading to heavy exchanges. However, till tonight, there was no report of any casualties or damages on the Indian side.
In Shahpur sector of Poonch also, Pakistan resorted to ceasefire violations for some time.
All other sectors on the LoC in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch remained calm today.
Ramgarh sector in Samba and Hiranagar sector in Kathua district, however, remained calm for second consecutive day today.
The firing has forced thousands of people to flee their homes and take shelter in rehabilitation camps or with their relatives.
The bustling settlement of Arnia and a chain of border hamlets along the Indo-Pak border now wear an empty look, with over 45,000 villagers abandoning their homes to escape heavy shelling by Pakistani forces in three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua.
Arnia town, with a population of 18,000, resembles a ghost town with only a few people left each in its adjoining hamlets to take care of animals and guard homes.
Farming, schooling, cattle rearing and everything else on which border dwellers survive have come to a halt due to the shelling.
Villagers at the forefront of Pakistani shelling say they feel they are in a war zone with sounds of mortar bombs and rattle of automatic weapons booming in the area.
In the hamlets, devastation is visible all around — blood stains on the floor, broken windows, injured animals and splinter marks on the walls.
Dressed in battle fatigues and bullet proof jackets, jawans of the Border Security Forces criss-cross through borderline hamlets and paddy fields to take position to give a befitting retaliation to Pakistani Rangers.
Some families that had initially decided to hold on to their homes have finally decided to move after intense shelling.
Night after night, 80-year-old Yashpal and his family huddled together under a bed in one corner of their room as soon as the shelling started.
After heavy cross-border shelling for over two days, the family finally decided to leave their home along the India- Pakistan border yesterday.
On Friday night, the situation got worse and two shells hit our house and damaged it, he said.
“It had happened during the 1965 and the 1971 wars. Such large number of mortar bombs had not since fallen in Arnia,” he said.
Police said “Arnia town has been vacated. We have evacuated large number of people from Arnia and border hamlets…Most of hamlets are now vacated”. They added that houses and cattle have bore the brunt of the shelling.
Sources said 58 villages in Arnia and Suchetgarh sectors of Jammu district have been affected due to the shelling by Pakistan.
“Over 36,000 border dwellers have migrated from their homes”, they said and added that 131 animals have been killed, 93 injured besides damage caused to 74 buildings and houses.
While most of the border dwellers are living with their relatives, over 1000 are camped in boarding and lodging places setup by the government in schools.
Over 5000 cattle have been shifted from various border hamlets to safer places.
In Samba and Ramgarh sectors of Samba district, over 5000 people have migrated besides over 3000 from Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.
Hundreds of grass houses (Kullas) have also been gutted and bovines killed in fire triggered by bursting of mortar bombs fired by Pakistan troops in Jeora farm, popularly known as “hamlet of milkmen”.
The hamlet houses over 100 families and is famous for supplying milk and other milk products to Jammu.
“We have left our hamlets. We have lost everything. Our kullas have gutted in Pakistan mortar shelling and animals have perished. They were our source of income”, Sattar Din, a resident of Jeora Farm, said in a relief camp.
“Over 150 kullas have been gutted in the fire and several animals have perished in the fire triggered by Pakistan shelling”, sources said.
Another Arnia dweller Asha Rani, who fled her house along with her family of five in a bullock cart, said “People have not seen such intense firing and shelling even in the 1965 and 1971 wars. Pakistan was solely shelling us (civilians) in Arnia”.
It is also for the first time that shells fired by Pakistan exploded in Gajansoo town yesterday, killing a 25-years-old.
Over 300 educational institutes have been closed for the next three days along the IB and LoC in Jammu region by authorities in the wake of tension along the Indo-Pak border due to shelling.
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