KALAL (NOWSHERA), JULY 25: Their lives have been punctuated by gunfire. Shelling wakes them up at night, follows them through their days. They have lost their relatives and cattle to Pakistani shells. Yet, they live unarmed along the 300-km Line of Control (LoC) from Sunderbani (Rajouri) to Sawjian (Poonch district). Over one lakh people have not migrated from their villages so far despite the heavy mortar shelling by Pakistani troops during the last two months.Hari Chand, who lost his both sons during Pakistani shelling in 1971, does not intend to move to a safer place. To escape Pakistani shelling, every two families in each village have constructed bunkers. ``We move into the bunkers whenever shells start pounding the village,'' says Ashwani Kumar of Kalal. ``Everybody has to die one day and it is better to die at home,'' says Sheelo Devi.Yesterday, Pakistani troops lobbed mortar shells at Bhawani and Lam areas in Rajouri district as in the border areas of the adjoining Poonch district includingBimber Gali, Mendhar, Krishna Ghati and Sawjian. Two boys, sitting on a cot outside their house, had a narrow escape when a Pakistani shell fell near them at Manpur. Another mortar shell fell on the road near village Tanaka, but the nomadic Gujjars who were passing by escaped unhurt.But life goes on. The villagers have cultivated maize right up to the hills that mark the ridge line.Official sources say mortar shelling and firing by Pakistani troops all along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts has considerably decreased during the last fortnight. This, however, is the heaviest firing by Pakistani troops since the 1971 war, say residents.But they are determined to stay on even if the shelling increases. If it becomes unbearable, some of them may move temporarily to their old villages. ``Instead of fleeing our villages, we will move to Mirpur and Muzzafrabad (both in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir),'' says Dewan Chand of Bareri, who migrated from Mirpur in 1947.Deputy Inspector General of Police forRajouri and Poonch range, K Rajendra says the Pakistani shelling had initially caused panic in the border areas. But senior civil and police officials and politicians visited these areas and persuaded people not to migrate.
