Reporting from Kashmir, which is administered by India
BBCOn Wednesday night, ruined houses were still smoldering in the Indian-administered Kashmir village of Salamabad.
This little town is close to the Line of Control that separates Pakistan- and Indian-administered Kashmir, the site of the quickly escalating tensions that have caused India to launch attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday night.
The next day, Salamabad’s streets were almost entirely bare. According to locals, Muslim shelling hit the town.
The majority of the citizens had already fled the assault, leaving chickens gnawing in their cages in gardens.
A loud blast woke us up as a local merchant who witnessed the loss, according to Bashir Ahmad, who was a witness to the destruction.
By 03:00, mortar shells had landed close to a liquid bridge, and they had blasted many homes, ignoring them.
We have no security bunkers to camp in because the government did not issue any warnings or consulting regarding the cross-border shooting.
This kind of shooting is not new to Salamabad: up until 2021, incidents of cross-border fireplace were routinely reported.
However, a military peace agreement between the two nations significantly reduced the number of attacks.
Up until Wednesday night, things were back to standard for the most part, free of fear.
Doubt is now roiling over the villages scattered along the Line of Control after more.
Mr. Ahmad estimated that only a small number of Salamabad’s 100 or so residents were still alive, the rest having fled in search of security from what he thought was the most powerful shelling in a long time.
Two houses in the town had been torn aside by cement in the community.
Some dinnerware had remained impossible to find up on a table in a hole in the wall of one property while everyone else lay shattered or burned.
The size of the firepower they encountered immediately was unmatchable for the smaller homes.
Their iron roofs sunk above them, completely hollow out by bombs and fire.
Badrudin claimed he was hurt in the shooting, along with this eight-year-old boy and sister-in-law, at a hospital 40 kilometers away.
He identified one of the destroyed homes as his in a photo.
We were all snoring when a cement tank landed near our houses, he said. The kids slept in as well.
We miraculously managed to flee despite the intense shooting.
Badrudin claimed to have paid off a loan of 3 lakhs ($ 3, 540,$ 2, 653 ) to construct his family’s home in Salamabad.
” Everything is gone now, he said. We’re also afraid to go back.
He continued,” We need the authorities to step in and provide assistance because it will be very difficult to rebuild the house.
We desire peace, no war.