Shelling forces Uri villagers to leave the dead and the old

Rashid is one of the estimated 6,000 people who have left the shell-torn Uri sector. The last four days has seen the deaths of 6 civilians, two security force jawans and injuries to more than 50 in the 102 villages comprising the Uri region.

Uri is just one of the sectors hit by one of the worst spurt of shelling in recent history. Kargil town in Ladakh is completely deserted; villagers in Gurez, the northernmost valley in Kashmir, have taken shelter in nullahs and narrow gorges to escape being hit by Pakistanishells.

In Karnah town of Kupwara, at least 17 persons have so far died in the continuing shelling.

“Most disturbing has been the use of the shelling from ranges of more than 38 km to target for the first time Boniyar and Chandanwari, less than 20 km away from the 19 Infantry Division HQs at Baramulla, which is North Kashmir’s most important town,” said a police officer.

The terrifying scream of shells flying down have forced people from Uri to seek shelter in villages in the nooks of mountains, Baramulla and migrant camps set up at the NHPC quarters at Guntmullah, Perenai and Tethmullah.Leaving everything behind, Uri villagers are fleeing their homes. “The 50,000 boxes of pears annually harvested from the region will now rot,” says Najma from Darawan village.

Naseema fled Rampir Urimullah with her six children after shells broke the window panes.

“Many of us have been separated from our families as we just fled when the children could not bear it any longer,” she says.Fifteen houses, thehigh school building and the panchayat office at Nambla village are in a shambles. The villages of Garcot, Nambla and Dawaran are completely deserted while in other villages the womenfolk and the children have fled, leaving the old behind. “I have never witnessed anything like this in my whole life.”

` `In previous years firing used to happen but it was limited to the LoC and a few odd shells landed on the hills beyond our village. But the last four days has seen shells raining down on areas which were hitherto never touched,” said 65-year-old Mohammad Ayub, as he sits outside a tea shop in Banday village.

Medical facilities at Uri have been stretched to the limit and most patients were referred to the Baramulla District Hospital which overflowed. The injured were then sent down to Srinagar, a 100 km away from Uri. Recounts the medical officer at the Uri Hospital:

“The injured poured in from all villages. We have received 18 injured in the last 24 hours, while on the first day itself, 10 people werebrought in with splinter wounds.”