Heavy Artillery Shelling In Uri, Villagers Flee

After 2003 cease-fire agreement, Indian and Pakistani armies, for the first time used artillery, along with the mortar shells, to target each other’s posts along the Line of Control in hitherto comparatively calm Uri sector, around 75 km northwest of Srinagar, the sources said.

According to some locals, Pakistani army used public address system informing people living near the LOC to leave their homes.

The artillery shelling indicates a new level of escalation. Earlier, during the exchange of the fire, the two sides were using small arms and mortar shells to target each other. 

However, Srinagar defence spokesman didn't confirm anything about the artillery shelling. 

According to the civil officials, in the fresh ceasefire violation, several houses have suffered damages and around over 1300 people have to leave their houses to shift to safer places. The shelling has stopped from 4 p.m. on both sides, a local resident said. “About ten villages are in difficult situation. We don’t know what will happen next," he said.

Shabir Ahmad, a resident of Silkote, the village which falls on the LoC, told reporters in the Uri market, that his family and other neighbours were stuck in their homes. He said they are not coming out due to the intense shelling. He said many elderly persons, domestic animals and patients were trapped in their houses. “This is a frightening situation”, he said.

According to the officials, around 1300 people including women and children have been shifted to the Higher Secondary School Uri, which is serving as a shelter home for the displaced people. The officials say an equal number of people have moved to the houses of their relatives.

There are no safety bunkers in the Uri sector for the villagers. 

Locals from Silkote, Mothal, Hathlanga, Soura, Churanda and other villages in Haji Peer sector said the exchange of fire between the two sides started on Thursday. They said there was calm on Friday and the firing and shelling resumed Saturday morning forcing them to flee their villages and rush towards the Uri town.

A Srinagar based defence spokesman Saturday morning said the unprovoked ceasefire violation was started by Pakistani troops. “Our troops are retaliating”, he added.

The villagers said Pakistani army this morning made an announcement through loudspeakers asking people living along the line of control in Churanda and Silkote hamlets to vacate their villages. The announcement created panic. The villagers said Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling. “It is a war-like situation”, they told reporters. The residents have rushed towards the safer places in the Uri market. The residents say the present shelling has been so intense that it has no parallel since 2003.  “I have not witnessed any such intense shelling in the past”, a resident of Silkote said.

National Conference working president Omar Abdullah Saturday expressed serious concern over the continued heavy cross-LOC shelling in Uri and sought immediate measures to be taken by the administration to ensure the safety of civilians in the area. Abdullah said the State Government should ensure their safety at all costs.

An independent MLA Engineer Rashid who visited Uri today appealed India and Pakistan to show restraint and maturity. He said an alternate land to border migrants and all those who are under constant threat of cross LoC shelling should be provided.

He said the government should take other immediate and concrete steps to rehabilitate the border victims of Uri, who have been forced to migrate from their native places due to shelling and escalation at the borders.