Booming guns keep Jammu awake

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 25

As villages along the international border experienced for the past two days one of the heaviest bombardments by the Pakistan army and Rangers in recent years, the sound of booming guns kept 15 lakh inhabitants of Jammu awake and anxious.

The regular thud of intense mortar shelling and use of heavy calibre weapons was heard across the city through the nights. For many it was unfolding of reality, how close Jammu is to the battlefield which has left thousands of people displaced as Pakistan targeted civilian areas with impunity.

People could hear heavy calibre weapons being fired by both Indian and Pakistani soldiers on international border from the Suchetgarh-RS Pura-Akhnoor belt which remained calm till recently.

“We could hear guns booming throughout the night. It was after more than a decade that the sound of shelling was heard across the city. Our heart goes to the people and soldiers who are not only defending the border but preventing infiltration,” said Anil Kumar, a resident of Roopnagar.

The line separating Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan has been one of the subcontinent’s flashpoints since 1947. The 198-km-long international border passing through the Jammu region and the 744-km-long Line of Control are the active areas of India’s disputed border with Pakistan.

“I now realise that we are living in a battle zone. A lively city of 7 lakh souls is witness to the undeclared mini war being fought on the borders. Several of our relatives have been displaced,” said Priyanka Sharma, a university student.