Martyred soldier hailed from Haryana
*Gurudwara, Madarsa, temple, offices damaged
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 8: After intense shelling by Pakistan army on the intervening night of May 6 and 7 in which 12 civilians including two religious preachers and four children, two of them siblings, were killed and an Army soldier was martyred, majority of houses in Poonch town remained deserted with people staying away to the houses of their relatives or other places away from the town.
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Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar attained martyrdom in Pakistan shelling in forward area of Sagra. He hailed from Palwal in Haryana.
Bhai Amrik Singh, a Ragi at Gurudwara Singh Sabha and Maulana Iqbal, a prominent religious preacher of Zia-ul-Uloom Madarsa were among those killed in the shelling. The Gurudwara and Madarsa besides Gita Bhawan temple were damaged.
Iqbal, a resident of Baila village in Mandi tehsil, was killed when a mortar shell hit the Madrasa Zia-ul-Uloom in Poonch city on Wednesday. A Gurudwara and a temple were also hit by the indiscriminate Pakistani shelling in the district, claiming 13 lives, including that of a soldier, four children and two women.
Many Government offices including District Police Lines (DPL), Forest Department etc were damaged in the shelling yesterday,
Besides, a number of shops, houses, vehicles and other structures were also damaged.
A total of 12 civilians including 10 and 11 years old siblings and two other children have been killed in the firing.
Meanwhile, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar, who was martyred in the shelling at Sagra along LoC in Poonch hailed from Palwal, Haryana and has two younger brothers who are also serving in the armed forces.
Dinesh was 32 years old and came from a village in the Palwal district. According to his father, Daya Chand, he joined the Army in 2014 and is survived by his wife and two children, both minors.
“My son died while serving his motherland,” Chand told reporters at his native village today.
Meanwhile, the External Affairs Ministry said Pakistan’s ceasefire violations along the LoC claimed lives of 13 civilians in Poonch sector, and injured a total of 59 people.
The Pakistan army continued shelling along LoC in four sectors of Jammu and Kashmir overnight, prompting a befitting response by the Indian Army.
“On the intervening night of May 7 and 8, Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing using small arms and artillery guns across the LoC in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor sectors in J-K. The Indian Army responded proportionately,” a Defence spokesman said in Jammu.
Hundreds of border residents have already moved to safer areas in view of the flare up.
“The GOC (General Officer Commanding) and all ranks of White Knight Corps salute the supreme sacrifice of L/Nk Dinesh Kumar of 5 Fd Regt, who laid down his life on May 7 during Pakistan army shelling. We also stand in solidarity with all victims of the targeted attacks on innocent civilians in Poonch sector,” the Army said in a post on X.
The administration in Jammu division has also set up 24×7 control rooms in all the 10 districts of the region.
Thursday’s shelling was the 14th consecutive night of firing along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir amid heightened tension following the Pahalgam attack.
Ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border have been very rare after India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021.
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