living under the shadow of death for past several days, border residents living across bustling town of Arnia in RS Pura on Tuesday hurriedly packed essential items in small bags and boarded tractor trolleys, open air tempos to rush to safety even as Pakistani Rangers escalated tension by targeting thickly populated civilian areas.
Over night firing and mortar shelling along the International border in RS Pura, Arnia, Kanachak and Pargwal sub sectors of Jammu frontier created war like situation for hapless villagers.
In some places splinters of 120 mm Mortar shells were recovered by the police and BSF jawans clearly indicating involvement of Pakistan Army’s artillery unit along side Pakistani Rangers in their bunkers.
Meanwhile, the situation in RS Pura belt, hit hard by Pakistani Rangers for last three days, remained tense as several villages wore deserted look after local residents vacated their homes.
Market places remained shut during peak festive season and educational institutions remained closed due to prevailing tension in the area. Several houses in Flora village of RS Pura were targeted by the Pakistani Rangers while the main market of Arnia in Treva chowk wore a deserted look after two mortar shells landed in the area on early Tuesday morning injuring four civilians.
Bimla Choudhary, a village sarpanch told The Pioneer, “We are living under the shadow of death for past many days. We want to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to either deal firmly with Pakistan or address the issue of their permanent rehabilitation.”
A young child identified as Ankush received splinter injuries after a shell landed in their house in Flora village. Bhupinder Singh resident of the same village said, people ran for cover as Pakistani shells started landing in their village past midnight. We could not sleep through out the night as regular announcements were made to stay awake and alert to prevent loss of life.
Angry villagers also vent their ire against the absent State Government machinery in the area. The entire Government machinery is no where visible on the ground, the angry villagers alleged. The Ministers are staying away from the area leaving us stranded mid way, said Singh.