The shelling has left a trail of devastation and forced many to flee.
As per reports, at least 12 people, including four children, have been killed, while 57 others have been injured on Wednesday in shelling by the Pakistani Army in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Our city is burning, but we are still proud that Indian forces gave a strong response to the terrorists,” said a resident of Poonch, his voice filled with both pride and pain.
“We were only trying to sleep, but the explosions woke us up with a terror I can’t describe,” said Sajad Ahmed, a father of three from Poonch.
“The shelling from across the border is like an endless nightmare. My children cry every time they hear a loud noise. They’re scared to sleep, scared to leave the house. The fear in their eyes breaks my heart. We’re just ordinary people, trying to live in peace, but now we are forced to live in constant fear,” he said. “Every night, I lie awake, wondering if we’ll make it through another day without something terrible happening. The sounds of explosions have become so common, it feels like we can never escape it. I can’t protect my family from the fear that haunts us every single day,” Ahmed added.
Shakeela Begum, a mother of two in Rajouri, shared a similar ordeal.
“We are just simple villagers. We don’t care about politics or who’s right or wrong. All we want is to live in peace, to raise our children without the constant fear of death. I want to protect my son, but how can I when we’re trapped in a war we didn’t start? All I wish for is for the shelling to stop, for my children to sleep without fear, and for us to live a life without this nightmare,” Shakeela said.
But for most, leaving homes also means leaving livelihoods.
Ghulam Nabi (70) from Balnoi expressed the fears and dilemmas faced by many.
“Our whole life is here—our fields, our animals, our memories. This is all we’ve known. But how do you protect a lifetime of memories from a mortar shell? Every time the shelling starts, I wonder if this will be the day everything we’ve built will be destroyed. Our home, our land, everything we hold dear—it all feels so fragile. I’ve worked my entire life to build something here, to create a future for my children. But now, I fear that the very ground we’ve tilled will be turned to dust,” he said.