While on the one hand the whole world is engaged in
accounting for the number of people infected and dying from COD-19 and fighting
the Corona virus, on the other hand traditional armies of India and Pakistan
are firing on both sides of the border on the Line of Control in Kashmir. I'm
busy Allegations are being made by both sides and these
allegations are being denied by both sides but the people on both sides are
suffering the consequences of this shelling.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, journalist MA Jral
spoke to the local administration, according to which two people have been
killed and 59 injured in India's alleged firing and shelling since the Corona
epidemic spread around the world. Authorities say the dead included a two-year-old
child and a woman.
Earlier, journalist Majid Jahangir from Srinagar in
Indian-administered Kashmir had reported that three people had been killed in
cross-border firing from Pakistan so far. He said that some people were also
injured while the people of the villages around the LOC were scared and their
plight was further aggravated by the shelling during the Corona epidemic. The
Prime Minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Raja Farooq Haider, told the
BBC that the Indian Army had on April 27 targeted and killed a woman harvesting
wheat in a field in Jandroot sector of Kotli district and also in Khoi Ratta
sector. An eight-year-old girl was injured in the firing. He said that apart
from various sectors of Neelum Valley in the region, the local population was
constantly being targeted by the Indian Army in Abbaspur, Nikail, Samahni and
other areas of the Line of Control. According to him, shelling in these areas
has also damaged people's property.He added that due to the lockdown, the
movement of vehicles in the state is already restricted, while the firing by
the Indian Army on the Line of Control (LoC) in these areas requires food and
medical supplies to prevent the spread of corona virus. Equipment is not
available, which doubles people's hardships.Indian officials, meanwhile, say an
eight-year-old boy was among three civilians killed in an exchange of fire on
the border on April 12.Several people were also injured in an exchange of fire
from the Pakistani border in Kupwara, a border district of Kashmir.
The April 12 incident was mourned in Kupwara in
Indian-administered Kashmir. Some video clips have gone viral on social media,
showing villagers trying to avoid Pakistani shelling.
Speaking on the phone from his village Chokibal, Sarpanch
Haider Khan told the BBC that he could not understand how to avoid bullets or
the corona virus.
"When the incident happened on Sunday, many people
fled the village to save their lives," he said. I urge them to maintain
social distance even if they have visited the homes of their close relatives.
"At such a time, our neighboring country should
think of being a neighbor."
Haider Khan said: "Both India and Pakistan are
saying that they are fighting the corona virus but I urge them to deal with
this shelling first." What is happening in the border areas is inhumane.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Raja Farooq Haider, termed the statement of the
Indian Army General as fabricated and untrue, in which he said that Pakistan
had lined up people infected with the corona virus in its administered Kashmir.
Sending off control.
He said that the first person to be killed in Punjab
belonged to Abbaspur area of the region, his body was not allowed to enter
his native area and he was buried in Lahore.
"If the state is not allowed to bury the body of a
citizen, how is it possible for someone to send Corona victims to another
place?" Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan further said, "This
statement of the Indian General is a reflection of the sick mentality of India
and with such statements he has covered up the transfer of artillery to the
local population of Kashmir under his administration and his brutality on the
Line of Control." "Historians will surely write that even when the
world was engaged in a joint effort to stop the spread of the corona virus,
unarmed Kashmiris were bathed in blood," he said.
"There is no precedent in the world for such a great
humiliation of humanity."
Same story on both sides Tahir Ahmed, a local from
Kupwara in Indian-administered Kashmir, said the situation in the area was
tense. Ayaz Ahmed, head of Balakot village in Poonch district, said that due to
tension, people could not walk the social distance.
"People's emphasis is on maintaining social
distance, but when people are scared and look for a safe place under pressure,
how will it be implemented?" Ayaz Ahmed also said: "Whenever there is
firing, we run to other places to save our lives. This challenge is
unimaginable amidst the challenge of surviving the corona virus. He said that
on April 12, a woman from the village was injured in an exchange of fire and
they had to struggle to save her life."Another thing is that when someone
is injured or someone is shot dead and someone cries, how can we keep ourselves
confined in our homes?"On the other hand, Muhammad Aftab Mughal, who
belongs to the Bantal alphabet in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan, used to talk
to the BBC. He said that on April 12, his niece was sitting in the yard of her
house with her two-year-old brother Hassan Yousuf on her lap when suddenly a
shell fired by the Indian Army fell near her house, leaving scattered pieces.
And died on the spot. He said that the father of the child is a laborer. The
lockdown had already broken his back and now the death of the child has
completely paralyzed him.
Mohammad Aftab added, “Ignoring the precautionary
measures in the wake of the Corona epidemic, the locals come home to offer
condolences, which cannot be stopped as they are coming to share our grief."Now
you tell us whether to fight to stop the spread of Corona or to fight against
this shelling."
He said that Kashmiri would die if the bullet went
through this side or that side but no one including the world realized it.Majid
Jahangir, a journalist from Srinagar, said an estimated 300 bullets were fired
by Pakistani troops into residential areas last Sunday night.Ayaz Ahmed says
that they could not sleep all night and they thought that it would be the night
of resurrection. Balakot Sarpanch Majid Khattana says that according to the
population of the area, they do not have so many bunkers."Every time there
is a shooting, we have to hide somewhere. It is better to hide in bunkers but
there are only ten bunkers in our village and the population is 1200."A
bunker can carry 20 people. But if 20 people go to the bunkers, how will the
social distance be maintained? 'Majid Khattana added: "We can appeal to
our neighbor for some mercy. What our neighboring country is doing is
reprehensible. I want to tell the neighboring country that we must fight the
coronavirus. "
Conditions of Neelum Valley
A dry canal divides the Line of Control in the Basianwali
area of Dudhniyal in the Neelum Valley, where the outposts of the two armies
face each other, and the local population of the Neelum Valley is not far from
these fronts. According to officials, on April 11, two persons, including a
13-year-old girl, Saba, were injured and the property of the people, including
a mosque, was damaged in a firing and shelling by the Indian Army at Dudhniyal
in Basianwali. Speaking to the BBC on the phone, Saba said: "I was
studying my school lesson outside the house when suddenly a shell landed right
next to the house, pieces of which hit my leg and I was injured and fainted.
When I regained consciousness, I was at the local medical center. We were sent
home after first aid. He added: "My father is a laborer who is unemployed
nowadays. If I had been injured more, God willing, his financial condition
would not be good enough for me to get treatment." Asked about precautions
to be taken against the corona virus, he said in a bitter tone, "How can
we take precautions against the corona virus? We don't know for a moment when
the shell will come." We live together because of that fear. " "As
soon as the shelling starts, we either hide outside the houses with large
boulders in different places or hide in the ground floor of a two-storey
building in the village because we don't have bunkers," he said. He said
that if 30 to 40 people are gathered in one place, then you should take
precautionary measures in such situations.
"Both countries should think that if the corona
spreads in the border areas, it can affect everyone because the corona can also
affect animals, which no one can stop from crossing the Line of Control."
Why violate the ceasefire agreement?
The LoC divides the Kashmir Valley between the two
countries. In 2003, India and Pakistan also agreed to a ceasefire in the LOC
area and signed an agreement.
According to the Indian Army, Pakistan has violated the
ceasefire agreement 650 times so far this year. Pakistan has not only denied
these allegations but has also on several occasions recorded protests from the
Indian High Commission in Pakistan over the shelling and firing.
The border dispute began on April 5 this month when there
was an alleged clash between the Indian Army and militants in the Karen sector.
The Indian military claims to have killed five militants in an incursion
attempt, while five Indian soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer,
were killed.
Remember that the people living in the LOC area have to
be under the strict surveillance of the army at all times. Srinagar-based
Indian Army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said the Pakistani army opened unprovoked
fire in the Karen sector, killing three civilians. However, Pakistan has said
that the Indian Army had targeted the population of residential areas of Cheri
Kot and Shakargarh Working Boundary in violation of the ceasefire agreement
till late night on April 12. Whenever there is cross-border firing, the two
countries accuse each other of violating the ceasefire, but Kashmirs say it is
Dies Kashmiri.
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