Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 2: A tragic tale of Pakistan’s border shelling and firing was witnessed today in Ramgarh sector of Samba district, where six civilians including two children and two women were killed yesterday in worst ever brutalities by the Pakistani troops.
Twenty-eight year old Rakesh Kumar, a resident of village Rangoor in Ramgarh sector, who was among the injured of yesterday’s shelling, had to be taken to lit funeral pyre of his father, Mara Ram, by the people by picking up him in the arms as he was unable to walk due to fracture on his left leg and serious injuries on the right.
Mara Ram, 60, was seriously injured in the shelling at his house in Rangoor yesterday and had died in the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu. His son, Rakesh Kumar was among nine civilians injured at Ramgarh in the shelling.
Rakesh Kumar was taken from the GMC Jammu in a vehicle to Rangoor but the vehicle couldn’t reach to the cremation ground in the absence of pucca road. The villagers then lifted Rakesh in the arms and took her to the cremation ground to lit pyre of his father.
He performed last rites of his father with the support of his relatives and family friends and was then taken back to the hospital for treatment.
For most of the border residents in Ramgarh sector, it has been raining bombs and bullets as Pakistani Rangers target several civilian villages along the International Border in the sector yesterday though the area was peaceful today with no exchange of firing or shelling during the day.
Many border residents said that they have been witnessing death closely since the repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan.
“It rained bombs and bullets on our villages yesterday. It was like a war is being fought and we were caught in between, we witnessed death from close quarters,” Kamlesh Kumari, a relative of Mara Ram, said.
While majority of the injured are not in a condition to speak, their relatives recount the horror they went through after Pakistani side targeted their village at a time when they were getting ready for routine chores.
“We were aware that the situation was tense, but we never thought that our village would be attacked like this. If we had an iota of information we would have already shifted to safer place,” Harbans Lal, another relative of Mara Ram, said.
The border residents said yesterday’s firing from across the border was so intense that people were unable to rescue their injured relatives as it continued unabated.
“It was like Pakistani side was deliberately targeting civilian areas, they fired on the same spot again and again. My father was injured as he received splinter in the neck and as I tried to save him there was another blast and I was injured in the leg, my daughter Pari was also injured in the blast,” Rakesh Kumar said.
About 18-month-old girl, Pari, who has sustained injuries in her neck and spine, is also undergoing treatment at the GMC.
“We have been treating victims of cross border firing from all parts of Jammu region and we try our best to provide them with best possible medical facilities here. We are working round the clock for them,” Neeraj Sharma, a GMC doctor attending to the injured patients said.
The victims said that the injuries might heal, but the scars of firing etched in their memories would not.
“Wounds will heal, but life will not remain the same for us, now we would be afraid to return to our houses,” Kumar said.
The relatives of the victims said that the firing has once again justified their demand for rehabilitation to safer locations.
“If similar situations continue on the border, nobody would want to return to their villages. The Government must fulfill its promise of providing us with plots at safer locations,” Pritam Singh, a resident of Rangoor said.
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