1,000 Punjab villages evacuated

Locals along the Indo-Pak border vacate their villages following India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, near Attari on Thursday | pti
Locals along the Indo-Pak border vacate their villages following India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, near Attari on Thursday | pti

CHANDIGARH: The sudden escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan has triggered the evacuation of 1000 villages along the international border in six districts of Punjab, either fully or partially. Reports said thousands of people were on the move.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on the phone in the morning and requested him to immediately start evacuation within 10 km of the border.
Badal called an emergency meeting with the chief secretary and the director-general of police and issued orders to deputy commissioners (DCs) and senior superintendents of police (SSPs) to oversee the evacuation in the border districts of Ferozepur, Fazilka, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.
The Beating the Retreat ceremony held every day at the Attari-Wagah border was called off Thursday and Lt Gen Surinder Singh, the GoC-in-C of the Western Command, visited forward locations in Gurdaspur and Amritsar. The state government of Punjab has cancelled holidays for its employees till further orders.
People in Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts have been told not to switch on their lights or use any electronic gadgets at night. Sources said it was likely the Punjab State Power Corporation would cut electricity to border villages Thursday night.
Sources said that in Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts alone around 100 villages have been evacuated.
Schools, colleges and community centres have been turned into camps for people to stay until the tensions ease. Owners of marriage place and dharamshalas have been asked to keep their premises vacant to set up relief camps. The health department has been asked to stock medical supplies and the revenue department has been asked to arrange food at these shelters.
Villagers loaded their belongings onto tractor trolleys and started moving out. Seventy-five-year-old Phuman Singh of Mohar Sohna village in Fazilka said he left his cattle behind and much else. “For us it’s like war,” said the villager who remembered living through two wars.
Another villager Suba Singh recalled that they had to similarly vacate their villages during the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Kuldeep Singh of Naushehra Dhalla said the villagers were initially told that only women, children and the elderly would have to move, but then the others were told to go too.
As the day wore on Thursday, Punjab Police personnel went from village to village falling in a 10 km belt along the border, telling residents to move. Public announcements could be heard from the gurdwaras.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com