Meanwhile, it is business as usual at Uri

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 29

As the news about the surgical strikes across Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) broke, the people in Uri continued their routine work. But with every passing hour fear seems to grip them.

Uri, tucked in the corner of Kashmir, with a population of 60,000, has been in the news after the September 18 Army base attack that left 18 soldiers dead and triggered the latest tension between the two countries. Most of the residents remained glued to the TV to know about the latest developments.

“The situation is calm at the moment, but there is fear,” said Showkat Ahmed Rather, Sub-Divisional Magistrate. No villager close to the Line of Control had been shifted so far, he said.

The calmness in Uri could be gauged by the fact that the cross-LoC trade was normal on Thursday. As many as 26 trucks from here have left for PoK, but it could not be established immediately whether they crossed over to PoK or not.

“We have dispatched 26 trucks from Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) and are waiting whether they crossed the Kaman post or not,” Custodian of Cross-LoC Trade at Salamabad, Farooq Ahmed Shah said.

In case the tension escalates, there are many villages in Uri which may have to be evacuated. Some of these villages include Silikote, Dulanja, Gawatan, Isham, Churanda, Batgrahan, Sungthun, Badan, Sukhdar and others. Almost the entire Uri is prone to shelling from across the border.

“The situation is normal, but fear has gripped people here,” said a border resident Idrees Ahmed.  

There is also fear among the border residents in Kupwara that tension may escalate after the strike across the LoC. The areas in Nowgam, Karnah, Keran and Machil are most vulnerable in case tension escalates along the border.

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SSP Kupwara Shamsher Hussain said no villager along the LoC in the district had been evacuated.  

The border residents used to have underground bunkers to stay safe during cross-border shelling, but after the 2005 earthquake all these got dismantled. No underground bunker was constructed later and it makes the border residents more vulnerable.