A typical LOC Morning
I've personally witnessed huge mortars and howitzers shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Samahni sector today. It was probably the worst shelling in over a decade on civilians after the Kargil war.
I was on the breakfast table with my family at 8:30 am when we heard the heavy sounds of small arms and intense shelling of mortars along the LOC. The mortar fires were hitting the villages and hamlets in surroundings of central town while dust and fire had made the morning view very hazy.
It continued for almost two hours, causing huge panic among residents and shopkeepers in bazar who were forced to take shelter in their houses and shops.
I saw the whole thing from the window of my room (home office) at first floor, almost two and a half KMs away from the shelling target. It was horrifying.
After the shelling stopped, my father and uncle rushed to hospital and then to shelling targeted village with other locals to help affected people. More than four people injured, dozens of cattle killed and several houses and shops were completely damaged.
It was not just today and not only in my home town, it's a routine shelling in hundreds of villages and small towns along the LOC, from Barnala up to Taobat, on a 740 KMs long Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan. Some of the areas are densely populated and it's not possible at all for people to relocate from their native places. If I just talk about my tehsil, Samahni valley, there are more than 100k inhabitants living, which is a huge population of a remote area.
A surprising thing I've realized is the media coverage of LOC, which is completely silent most of the times, and a least important story of 20 seconds sometime at the end of 50 mins news bulletin. It's probably more devastating than the shelling itself.
Umar Aziz from Smahani azad kashmir
