In Poonch town, the raining mortars did not appear to care much for religion, age or routine.
A large green and white wall of a 50-year-old large Islamic seminary, the Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom, still carries the scars where shrapnel tore through recently. In it, on a bed, a 47-year-old teacher lay soaked in blood, before doctors at a local hospital declared him dead. Down the road, a 12-year-old child, drenched in blood, collapsed and died in the arms of a middle-aged man. In another street in the town, a mortar shell rammed through the ceiling of a house; its scraps tearing apart a Sikh man바카라s turban, leaving his nephew dead.
In Poonch, there바카라s barely a street where people haven바카라t either wailed for lost kin or called for help as mortars whistled down on them from the ridgelines along the Line of Control (LoC). The shells 바카라indiscriminately바카라 fell in crowded lanes, past shopfronts or low-roofed homes.
Until 2019, a bus ran across this border, transferring people, goods and shards of culture across either side. Now, it바카라s time to hunker down in bunkers and count the walls mangled by the mayhem. Elsewhere in Jammu바카라s border belt, residents crouch in corners, familiar with the drill. Each fresh round of fire revives memories바카라Pulwama in 2019, the Parliament attack in 2001, the war in 1971바카라
In Jammu and Kashmir, over 590 villages with a combined population of more than six lakh are located within five kilometres of the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in the five districts of Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu division. Of these, around 448 villages remain vulnerable to direct artillery fire from Pakistan.
India has accused Pakistan of repeated ceasefire violations, with small arms fire a routine occurrence along the LoC and IB. Since 2018, incidents of ceasefire violations and cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir have steadily increased. From 2018 to 2021, ceasefire violations rose sharply, with 5,601 incidents reported between November 2019 and November 2021; the count increasing with each passing year.
Following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, border tensions have escalated. Heavy shelling by Pakistani forces hit civilian areas up to 30 km from the LoC, killing at least 17 people in J&K바카라13 of them in Poonch바카라and injuring several others. While a fragile calm now prevails, fear still grips border residents. Many say they are unprepared for renewed conflict, citing poor health services, a lack of bunkers, and shortages where shelters exist. Residents say the authorities have also failed to set up proper infrastructure in the main town of Poonch as well as nearby villages, Mandi and Surankote, which were hit by the shelling.
On May 7 in Poonch, a mortar shell ripped through Surjan Singh바카라s ceiling. Shrapnel injured his nephew, Amarjeet, and struck Surjan바카라s turban before hitting his sleeping son바카라s head. Both Surjan and his son narrowly escaped serious harm. Amarjeet was helping his family find a safer space in their crowded street home when the shelling began. Their house has no bunker to shelter them during such attacks. Nearby in the Dharati area of the Balakote sector, people rushed into bunkers as soon as the firing started, recalling the violence of 2015 and 2018 when five civilians were killed in similar shelling.
Surjan rushed Amarjeet to the District Hospital in Poonch amid the bombardment. But he rued the lack of staff and equipment at the hospital, which struggled to handle the flow of injured persons. 바카라The shells hit my nephew all over his body and tore his lungs. Poonch was the worst hit, but the hospital lacks even quarters for doctors. It is not equipped for emergencies,바카라 Surjan said, recalling the screams of Amarjeet바카라s wife and children after the attack.
Locals said elderly people donated blood for the injured as nearly 70 per cent of Poonch바카라s population fled. They also expressed frustration at the lack of prior warning. 바카라We were told there would be mock drills. Instead, there was a direct attack. No alert came to prepare us for war,바카라 said Sangram Singh, a local resident.
바카라Where will people go if firing starts again?바카라 he asked. 바카라There are no safe shelters in Poonch town to protect us from constant shelling. The government must build proper infrastructure so lives are not lost. Shells have hit residential areas kilometres from the LoC,바카라 he said.
Shafiq Hussain Baba, who runs a seed store in the Poonch market바카라where the air is laced with the aroma of kebabs, biryani and incense바카라recalled the chaos as people ran for cover during the May 7 shelling. 바카라The only priority for the people was to shift the injured to the hospital and everyone was helping out,바카라 he said. Shafiq added that the shelling had reached further than ever before in places far from the LoC, like the Poonch marketplace.
Life in these border areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts, is a daily grind under the shadow of mortar shells and shattered homes. Shelling, this time, has pockmarked terrains that previously, over all these years, had been considered safe from the spillover of cross-border hostilities.
바카라The situation was not even as bad in the 1965 and 1971 wars as it is now. Shells have landed in areas that had never been impacted by cross-border tensions,바카라 he said.
With the tense standoff between India and Pakistan still unfolding, shopkeepers say normal business has yet to fully resume. It will take several months for life to find its rhythm again.
BR Suri, 81, a local shopkeeper, says Poonch town is tense. Shops close early in the evening and open late in the morning. 바카라People are fearful that the conditions between India and Pakistan may deteriorate further. Many businesses remained shut for weeks together,바카라 he said.
According to BJP MLC Pradeep Sharma, mortar shells hit all over the town, including his house, and residents called him urgently, pleading to be moved to safer places during the shelling.
바카라As I started receiving calls for help, I went out onto the street and took people to the hospital. It was terrible; some people breathed their last in my hands. I saw a teacher from the local seminary succumb to his injuries, and I tied an oxygen mask on another injured person, but I watched helplessly as people died,바카라 he said.
A few streets from the BJP leader바카라s house in Poonch, two neighbours lost their lives almost simultaneously. They were struck by shells fired by Pakistani troops from behind a mountain that marks the Line of Control. While authorities carried out damage assessments, residents said the losses were worse than during the 1971 war.
바카라Zain came running towards me and was shouting, 바카라save me, save me,바카라 and as I rushed with him into a house to take cover in its corridor, within moments, he died in my lap at the gate. It was terrible, and the boy was all soaked in blood바카라.
Ragi Amrik Singh바카라s shuttered grocery shop was stained with blood that flowed into the narrow street after it was hit by mortar shells. His neighbour, Ranjeet Singh, lay crumpled nearby, struck by mortar shrapnel. On May 7, Balbir stepped out to smoke and shouting, only to find his brother, Ranjeet, killed by a mortar.
바카라When I went outside, there was a stream of blood flowing. My brother had gone out to help people escape the shelling, but a shell took his life,바카라 said Balbir.
Authorities assessed the damage in Poonch town. Amrik바카라s family opened their shuttered grocery and crockery shops to heavy losses. Mortar shells had shattered glass cases, damaged the fridge and wrecked crockery.
According to General Secretary of District Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Poonch, Harcharan Singh, Poonch was relatively calmer than other areas that lay close to the LoC, but this time the damage was heavier than even the 1971 war. 바카라The situation here has remained tense during the surgical strikes and the 2001 Parliament attack, and people get worried over the talk of war. But this time the damage has been more extensive than the 1971 war between India and Pakistan,바카라 he said.
Shells also struck residential areas in Poonch district, including Mandi, Mendhar and Dharati. In Jammu바카라s Sukha Khatta area, 40-year-old Mohammad Akram died as a mortar exploded outside his house while he fled with his family. His brother, Mohammad Bashir, said Akram is survived by his wife, four daughters and two sons, who have now lost their means of survival.
After the shelling at the local seminary, most of the students left for home and did not return to classes even after the May 10 ceasefire. 바카라There were some 500 children who were studying here, but most went home after the shelling here,바카라 said Izhar Ahmad, a teacher at the seminary.
Liyaqat Hussain from Banch said his son was among students who returned home, fearing the India-Pakistan tensions would disrupt their studies again. 바카라My son chose not to return to school immediately, as his safety weighed on our minds,바카라 he said.
All along the LoC and border, especially in Rajouri and Poonch, people fled their homes and performed last rites. In Poonch바카라s Dungus area, 12-year-old Zain Ali, soaked in blood, ran to Khalid Hussain for help. Moments later, Zain and his twin sister, Zoya Khan, died in the mortar fire, while their father, Rameez Khan, was injured.
바카라The child (Zain) came running towards me and was shouting, 바카라save me, save me,바카라 and as I rushed with him into a house to take cover in its corridor, within moments, he died in my lap at the gate. It was terrible, and the boy was all soaked in blood,바카라 recalls Hussain. The family had shifted from Mandi to Poonch so the twins could study. The twins, Zain and Zoya, now lay buried alongside each other in their home바카라s backyard. Their father, Rameez, still recovering from injuries, remained unaware of their deaths. The twins바카라 father, injured in the shelling, was told days later; he broke down on hearing of their deaths.
After the Pahalgam attack, cross-border firing damaged several homes across Mandi, Mendhar and Dharti. Across the ridge in Bayla village, families huddled in wooden attics as tin roofs burnt hot. On the day Qari Iqbal was injured by shelling, his brother Farooq Ahmad, 42, was at the Seri Khawaja seminary, where he teaches. 바카라We buried my brother a few hours later after he was hit by a shell here at our ancestral village. The funeral prayers were held while the threat of shelling loomed over. My brother had two wives. He has a large family, including a handicapped child, and they have lost a source of support,바카라 Farooq said.
Tariq Manzoor, the deceased바카라s nephew, said that the lives of the family members have been shattered as they lost their 바카라means of survival바카라.
Habibullah Khan, a resident of the Mendhar area of Poonch, said that the tensions between India and Pakistan have been giving people sleepless nights. 바카라Several houses have been damaged here due to the shelling from across the LoC. The situation was no different during the time of surgical strikes in areas that lie close to the LoC. We have to bear the brunt of hostilities between the two countries.바카라
A resident of Dharati, Gulshad Khan, said that the areas close to the LoC, particularly the Balakote sector, have borne the brunt of hostilities between India and Pakistan. 바카라In 2015, five to six civilians were killed in the shelling by Pakistani troops from across the LoC. This time too, there was heavy shelling in residential areas. As soon as the shells started landing here, we rushed to the bunkers along with our family members.바카라 They could feed their cattle only after the shelling stopped.
Gulshad said that although Dharati has several community bunkers as well, where a large number of people can put up, they needed more bunkers. Prior to the shelling, villagers had an arrangement for cooking in the bunkers and also stocked them up with essential commodities. 바카라Bunkers help really to save lives, and we don바카라t feel the need to move to other places during the border skirmishes,바카라 he added.
However, now, as a fragile calm prevails along the LoC, people are even unable to live in their houses, some of which were heavily damaged. Surjan Singh said he and his son were taking refuge in the neighbourhood바카라s gurdwara. 바카라The loss is heavy, and the room in which I used to sleep is fully damaged,바카라 he said.
In Dungus, one house bore the brunt of the shelling, with several others partially hit. Muneer Hussain, 40, said shells landed close to many homes. Bits of shrapnel struck his small house, leaving scars on the walls and damage to the shop outside plainly visible.
바카라None of the government officials have come here to assess the losses. We have suffered damages, and we are fearful that in case the conditions between India and Pakistan further deteriorate, we will have to bear the brunt,바카라 said Muneer.
Ishfaq Naseem is senior special correspondent, Outlook. He is based in Srinagar
This article is part of Outlook Magazine's June 11, 2025 issue, 'Living on the Edge', which explores India바카라s fragile borderlands and the human cost of conflict. It appeared in print as 'Mortar Memory.'
