Fearing ‘unprovoked’ firing from across the International Border (IB) on the eve of Diwali, thousands of border residents on Wednesday shifted to safer places to celebrate Diwali.
Sham lal, hailing from village Abdullian, shifted his family to his relatives place on Wednesday evening as he feared the civilians may get hurt in the event of fresh exchange of firing.
He told The Pioneer, we are going to celebrate dark Diwali away from our homes. He said people decorate their houses and switch on the lights seeking blessings of Goddess lakshmi and we lesser mortals have to step out of our own houses to ensure our safety”.
Another resident of the same village Kuldeep said, “How can we think of celebrating Diwali when tension is prevailing in the area. He said we have been directed by the BSF soldiers to shift to safer places and switch off the lights before stepping out.
Meanwhile, the Arnia town in RS Pura sector, which bore the maximum brunt of shelling from the Pakistan side in the first week of October, also wore a deserted look despite peak festive season.
“First we earned losses during festival of Karwa Chauth and now we are suffering huge losses due to poor sales during Diwali season”.
“The villagers have fled their houses and there is no business taking place this festival season,” Romesh Kumar, a shopkeeper dealing with household items said.
The owners of sweet shops in the area had not even prepared traditional sweets fearing they may incur losses due to poor sales.
The mood in the entire border belt was subdued and people wore tense look anticipating cross border firing during Diwali. After sunset, darkness descended in the border belt of Jammu frontier and markets wore deserted look even as no major exchange of firing incident was reported in the recent days.
However, intermittent exchange of firing between Pakistan rangers and BSF jawans in Ramgarh sector of Samba district on Wednesday morning spared off tension in the area.
Two similar incidents of cross-border firing on October 17-18 had also alerted the border residents to stay alert in the run-up to the Diwali festivities.
The border residents have been staying away from their houses for past several weeks and also refused to return home during Diwali as they fear Pakistan rangers may target forward civilian areas to avenge loss of life and property during the previous border skirmishes.
Five civilians were killed on the occasion of Eid in Arnia subsector of RS Pura.
A total number of 10 Indian civilians lost their life in heavy Pakistani shelling in the first week of October. Unconfirmed reports and media reports emerging from Pakistan had also claimed heavy loss of life and property was reported on the other side of the border.
Government of India had already sent across a tough message to the neighbouring country by claiming that if they persisted with their adventurism on the border they might have to pay a heavy price.
On the other hand, the BSF and Indian Army are maintaining a tight vigil along the International Border across Jammu frontier and along the line of Control (loC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts to prevent any infiltration bid ahead of the Assembly polls, likely to be announced in the coming days.