POONCH: The nondescript village of Basoni, located barely a kilometre away from LoC and rocked by the recent Pakistani shelling, in which five people were killed, wore a deserted look as the residents flock to safer pastures.
"Because of the firing from across the Line of Control, people were unable to evacuate their dead and injured relatives. Pakistan has been continuously targeting the villages located near the line of control here", Shabir Khan, president of the local Sarpanch union said.
He said that the Sarpanch of Basoni village Karamat Hussain who died in the Pakistani shelling on Independence Day, was killed while he was trying to evacuate the injured people from his village.
"He died when he was saving the injured. Another man died when he came to save the seriously injured Sarpanch. They were targeted and killed by the Pakistani army," Khan said.
He said that the residents of several villages in the area have already left their houses and taken shelter at safer places in order to save themselves from the ongoing shelling.
"Many villages in the area have turned into ghost villages as barring few cattle, most of the residents have abandoned their houses and moved to safer places" he said.
Mushtaq Ahmed, another resident said that every time the hostilities between the two nations increase the residents here become the sitting ducks and urged the country to end their miseries once and for all.
"Whenever Pakistan acquires a new weapon, it targets and tests its range on us," he said.
A woman was killed and five others injured in heavy firing and mortar bomb shelling by Pakistani troops at several Indian posts and civilian areas yesterday raising the death toll to six in multiple ceasefire violations along the LoC in Poonch district over night.
On the Independence day, five civilians including the Sarpanch were killed and five others injured in heavy firing by Pakistani troops at Basoni hamlet.
The fatalities occurred on I-day when a shell fired during the mortar bomb attack hit a car in which three persons died in Basoni.
The dead were identified as 52-year-old Karamat Hussain, sarpanch of Basoni, 42-year-old Abdul Rahman, a teacher and 17-year-old Mohd Sheraj Khan Amin.
A 10-year-old and 18-year-old Mohmmad Amin also lost their lives in the attack.
A crowd which had assembled at the spot for evacuating them also came under Pakistani fire and at least seven civilians were injured, the officer added.