SRINAGAR: Residents of border villages in Jammu’s Rajouri region demand the construction of bunkers for their safety in future skirmishes between India and Pakistan. They do not want a repeat of the death and destruction that Pakistani shelling caused in the area following Operation Sindoor. The J&K administration has backed the proposal and assured to build bunkers at the earliest.
Pakistani troops resorted to heavy mortar and artillery shelling on border areas at the LoC from Uri, Tangdhar in north Kashmir to Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region.
At least 17 civilians, including 13 in Poonch, three in Rajouri and one in Uri, were killed and many others injured in the shelling. Dozens of houses and other structures were damaged. Syed Mustafa of Parampilla village in Uri, which came under heavy Pakistani shelling, said the government should construct individual and community bunkers for the residents in the border areas.
“The bunkers are necessary to save the lives of the border residents. They at least give us the chance to save ourselves from Pakistani shelling in case hostilities between the two sides break again,” he said.
Mustaf’s sister’s home was damaged in the shelling, but the family survived because they had fled just a few hours before a shell landed on their home.
“We had also been demanding the construction of bunkers in the past. But our pleas fell on deaf ears. After the destruction caused by Pakistani shelling, we appeal to the government to fast-track construction of bunkers so that at least the lives of border residents are saved,” said Showkat Check, a resident of Salamabad village of Uri, which was also in the line of fire of Pakistani troops.
He said the situation is fragile and “there is no guarantee that the ceasefire will hold and the government should start construction of bunkers for the border residents”. Thousands of border residents in Uri, Tangdhar, Poonch and Rajouri had fled after the Pakistani shelling.
New bunkers to be constructed: Sinha
J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, who visited Poonch and Rajouri on Wednesday, said “The new bunkers will be constructed so that people can stay safe in any situation in future. We are expanding our efforts to construct individual and community bunkers.”