"We Will Rise Again": J&K Man Whose House Was Destroyed In Pak Shelling
New Delhi:
It was around 2 am when Pakistan’s heavy firing and shelling hit civilian houses near the border areas in Jammu and Kashmir for the second straight day. In a village located almost 60 kilometres away from the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kupwara sector, a house was destroyed, with the aftermath painting a grim picture. Fortunately, Ishfaq and his family had already moved to a safe zone that evening.
“The attack happened around 2 am. We were not here when the shelling hit our house, as I decided to move my family to a safe zone just hours before. There is a lot of damage…But we are not scared. We are proud Indians first, the proud Kashmiris. We won’t be scared by this. We will stand strong and rise again,” Ishfaq told NDTV.
The firing broke the house’s windows and fragmented the concrete walls. A huge amount of debris from the shrapnel-damaged walls was seen lying around as the homeowners stood inside.
“This is very unfortunate. What happened in Pahalgam is highly shameful,” Ishfaq said.
Ishfaq’s father told NDTV, “My son forced us to move. We were hesitant, but he forced us. We left in the evening, and the attack happened at night.”
The Pahalgam terror attack and the continuous firing by Pakistan across the LoC have taken the residents back to a tense environment filled with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. Thousands of citizens who live next to the LoC have lost their family members during the past escalations. As the tensions between the two countries escalated further after India’s Operation Sindoor, many locals have fled to temporary shelters.
In some villages, locals have also built ‘bunkers‘ where they can hide for protection during heavy gunfire.
India has repulsed two waves of drone and missile attacks by Pakistan targeting Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab. The first began late May 7 night – hours after India’s Operation Sindoor eliminated nine terror camps – and then on May 8 night.
The Operation Sindoor was carried out to avenge the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. According to government sources, the attack was more than a military response and was synchronised to avoid detection and maximise damage. Pakistan, in response, resorted to ‘arbitrary and indiscriminate firing’ and artillery shelling across the LoC, killing at least 16 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
