POONCH: “Man on the roads”. This fits with BJP leader and former J&K MLC Pradeep Sharma for being very active and reaching out and rescuing those injured during the recent cross-border shelling from Pakistani troops in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir.
“For four days, I and my team were on the road. We were visiting the place hit by shells and helping in shifting the injured to the hospitals,” Pradeep told this newspaper.
He said when the shelling began on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, he was woken up by his family. “I could hear the loud explosions. I thought of doing something for the people caught in the crossfire to help them in this distressing situation”.
Pradeep decided to reach out to the population through social media.
“I went live on Facebook at 2.25 am and urged people to stay indoors and don’t venture out. I told them to move to ground floors and not panic and stay alert,” the BJP leader said.
As the cross border shelling was going on, a shell landed in the Forest Department complex in the Poonch town, injuring a forester staying there.
“It was the first shell to land in the town. As the place was close to my residence, I alongwith my brother immediately reached the spot on a scooty and helped in shifting the injured forester to the hospital,” Pradeep said.
As the time passed by, more shells landed in different parts of congested Poonch city, damaging houses and causing injuries.
“I went to the Syndicate area of Poonch, where three members of Sikh community were injured in the shelling. I helped to get them shifted to the hospital. In the hospital, one of the injured succumbed to injuries,” Pradeep said.
The BJP leader was among the first responders at madrassa (Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom) in Poonch town after it was hit by a shell.
Molvi Mohammad Iqbal, who had been a teacher in the Darul Uloom for 21 years, and three students were injured in the shelling.
Pradeep helped the Darul Uloom office bearers in shifting injured Molvi and three children to a hospital.
“I brought the injured students in my lap to the hospital. One of the injured students was treated by the doctors in my lap,” he said.
“Even Molvi Mohammad Iqbal died in my lap after reciting some Islamic words,” Pradeep said.
The videos of him carrying injured Madrassa children and Molvi to hospital have gone viral on social media.
“I was there wherever the explosion took place. I did not see whether the person injured was a Muslim, Hindu or a Sikh. For me that person was a human being and there is no bigger religion than serving humanity,” Pradeep said. “I worked honestly to ensure that injured get immediate treatment and those in need get assistance.
He said there should be curses on those, who talk on communal lines even during tradegy.
“If anyone sees religion during tragedy, there is no person worse than him. When shells are falling and bullets are being fired and people are getting killed and injured and you talk of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, then you don’t have the right to live,” said the BJP leader.
