In a sharp escalation in cross-border shelling, which has gone from small arms fire to heavy artillery, Pakistan targeted the civilian population residing near the Line of Control, killing at least 11 people and leaving 40 injured.
While intense artillery fire was also heard in the Uri and Tangdhar sectors of Kashmir Valley, the worst was in Poonch town in Jammu, which saw artillery shells hit residential and government buildings, besides public places, for the first time since the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Many locals moved out to safer places, with the local administration making arrangements at designated locations in Chandak, Lassana, Sanai and Sathra.
Though Pakistan has resorted to mortar and artillery shelling along the LoC in Poonch district in the past too, shells have never fallen so deep inside the border town, and particularly in residential areas, locals said.
In 2019, after India carried out a surgical strike in PoK’s Balakote area in retaliation to the Pulwama terror attack, two-three Pakistani shells had fallen near Betar nullah on the outskirts of old Poonch town, recalled Narinder Singh, president of Poonch district’s Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
The Sikh community residing in Jammu lost at least five members, while the building of the local Gurdwara Singh Sabha suffered damage, he said.
The 11 dead include two women and four children, including siblings Zoya Khan, 14, and Zain Khan, 12, who were killed when a Pakistani shell fell on their house at Kalani village. Their father, Rameez Khan, was injured.
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Two neighbouring shopkeepers at Syndicate Chowk – Amreek Singh, 55, and Ranjit Singh, 48 – died when a shell fell there in the morning. While the former was opening his shop, the latter had just taken his seat inside his establishment.
Amreek used to sing hymns (shabads) in religious gatherings and local gurdwaras.
Seven-year-old Maryam Khatoon, who was sitting in the compound of her house at Qazi Mohalla, was killed, while her sister Iram Naz, 10, was injured after being hit by splinters of a shell fired from across the LoC.
Another minor killed in the shelling was identified as Vihaan Bhargav, 13, a resident of village Dungus.
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In Mendhar’s Mankote area, Balvinder Kour, 35, was killed and her daughter Ravinder Kour, 12, injured.
Others killed in the Pakistani shelling, whose identities have been established, include Amarjeet Singh, 47, Mohammad Akram, 40, and Qazi Mohammad Iqbal, all residents of Poonch.
“During the night of May 6-7, Pakistan Army resorted to arbitrary firing, including artillery shelling from posts across the Line of Control opposite J&K,” Lt Colonel Suneel Baratwal, PRO (Defence), Northern Command, said.
Heavy shelling was reported in Krishna Ghati, Shahpur and Mankote in Poonch district, besides Laam, Manjakote and Gambhir Brahmana in Rajouri.
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“We have been told to shift to ITI College in R S Pura, where arrangements have been made by the government for our stay,” said Liaqat Ali, a resident of Jora Farm.
During the day, scores of youth visited the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu to donate blood for those injured.
Authorities have ordered the closure of schools and colleges in five border districts — Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch — citing security concerns. Airports in cities close to the border, including Jammu, Srinagar and Leh, have suspended operations.
Narinder Singh, the Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president, said they have not witnessed such shelling in decades. “It is for the first time after the 1971 war that such intense and unabated shelling has been conducted. They are targeting the entire city… deep inside. It started around 1.30 am last night and has only intensified.”
Narinder said that Amreek Singh, one of the deceased, “was with me till a few hours before (his death) as we took a round of the city to assess things after offering prayers at the gurdwara”.
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“He was sitting inside his grocery shop with the shutters down when an artillery shell pierced the shutter and hit him,” he said.
On the damage to the Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Narinder said it was “not much” and the interiors are safe. “A door and some glass windows have suffered damage but we have kept the swaroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib safely inside,” he said.