Gripped by war hysteria, the majority of the border residents living in the direct line of fire on the International border (IB) and along the line of control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir are a worried lot.
The schedule of mock drill exercises aimed at enhancing emergency preparedness and preparing the common citizens to cope during wartime emergencies has further aggravated their concerns about the lack of medical facilities in the region.
On Tuesday, when media teams visited some of the border areas of the Jammu frontier, several villagers highlighted the issue of poor emergency services in the forward areas.
“In the past, we have suffered a lot during regular mortar shelling from across the International border with Pakistan. “We expect the Union territory administration to beef up the emergency services across various health
centres in the border areas in the coming days”, a group of villagers told reporters in the Arnia sector.
On the other hand, the farmers in the border areas are also racing against time to complete the harvest process amid heightened tension following the Pahalgam terror attack. In the absence of non-local agriculture workers, the family members, with the assistance of local labour, are harvesting their standing crops.
Rough estimates suggested about 1.25 lakh hectares of agricultural land ( of three districts of Jammu, Samba, and Kathua), fall within the shelling range of Pakistan.
The local administration has also come to the rescue of these local farmers to expedite the harvesting of standing crops.
“An alert has been sounded. The tehsildar has arranged an adequate number of harvesters to speed up the harvesting process. Ninety-five percent of the harvesting has already been completed in these belts,” a farmer from Treva, Gulshan Kumar, said.
Meanwhile, with no let-up in incidents of ceasefire violation amid heightened tension, the Pakistan Army Tuesday resorted to small arms firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajouri, Mendhar, Nowshera, Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors. This was the third consecutive day when the Pakistan Army targeted these sectors across the LoC.
The Indian Army said its troops responded in equal measure.
“During the night of May 05-06, 2025, Pakistan Army posts resorted to unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control (LoC) in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajouri, Mendhar, Nowshera, Sunderbani and Akhnoor in J and K. Indian Army responded promptly and proportionately,”PRO Defence Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said.
The areas across the LoC in the Akhnoor sector in Jammu district recorded a ceasefire violation for the eighth consecutive day on Tuesday.