 Shiv Thakur
Jammu, Aug 24: Fear psychosis continues to grip the border villages as intense shelling from across the border last night led to another sleepless night for the residents of R S Pura and Arnia sectors of Jammu.
The Pak shelling on Friday night had left two civilians dead and one BSF jawan injured.
Tarsem Kumar, a local, speaking to Early Times said, "We, being residents of Border area are living a very tough as well as miserable life". He said that he along with many other families of the area are staying in the danger zone to look after their farms and animals. The firing has been going on for the last eight days and the people are not able to earn any livelihood, he added.
"Government should think something for us and find out some solution. It has not taken any concrete action in this regard," he said.
Om Parkash,a retired teacher and owner of the house which was targeted by a Pak motar shell, expressed his grief saying, "We have to leave our houses and farms unwillingly because of this continuous firing".
He said that he suffered a great loss as one of the Pak motar shells fell in the veranda of his house and after explosion, the splinters caused great damage to the house as well as household items, including utensils, doors, refrigerator and coolers.
He said there was no casualty because his family was not in the house at the time of the explosion as he and other five members of his family had gone to meet his son who is serving J&K Police at Kunjwani.
He said that many political leaders along with local MLA Sham Choudhary visited his residence and Tehsildar RS Pura handed over a cheque of Rs 10,000 to him as compensation for the damage suffered which according to him was insufficient and non justifiable. He said he had suffered an estimated loss of Rs 1 lakh. Admitting that ceasefire violations by Pakistan have increased of late, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said,"It's a fact that of late ceasefire violations by Pakistan have increased but let everybody be assured that both our Army and BSF are fully vigilant; they effectively respond to each violation." |
