Caught in the crossfire on the LoC

The intervening night of 6–7 May unleashed a wave of terror on the residents living along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the districts of Poonch and Kupwara.

In Poonch, from across the border left at least 13 dead and more than 60 injured, many of them critically. Among the dead were three Sikhs, including a woman.

“Bullets and mortar shells rained on our locality the whole night. They made a deafening noise and hit houses and other buildings, trees and vehicles… We were terrified. None of us slept a wink. In the morning, a shell hit the window of our house and exploded. My brother Amarjeet Singh, a former army official, was hit on the chest by splinters. We rushed him to the hospital, but he soon succumbed to his injuries,” said Surjan Singh, speaking to National Herald.

“That shell didn’t just destroy our home — it shattered our family. My brother has left behind our elderly parents, both in their 80s, a grieving widow, a 14-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter,” added Surjan, who is also one of the managers of the local Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. “Even our gurdwara sustained damage from a shell fired across the border,” he said.

The disaster unfolded late into the night of 6–7 May, shortly after the Indian armed forces had launched Operation Sindoor — a strike targeting terror camps across nine locations in Pakistan and PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).

“ is not new, but that night felt different — it was more terrifying and the casualties it caused more devastating,” said Ishrat Bhat, a Poonch-based journalist, speaking to National Herald.

Residents of the Karnah and Tangdhar sectors in Kupwara district faced similar horrors. Though there was no loss of life, the firing and shelling from the Pakistani side caused the destruction of several houses, shops, government buildings and vehicles.

“In Karnah sector, as many as eight houses and four vehicles, struck by artillery fire, were reduced to ashes. Over a hundred houses and several mosques have developed cracks after the shelling by the Pakistani army,” Ishfaq Syeed, a journalist and resident of Karnah, told this reporter.

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“It was like a nightmare. There were at least 30 of us, including women and children, who spent that horrific night in an underground bunker — a shared village shelter that can accommodate several families in such emergencies. The sound of shelling was piercing, quickening our hearts, filling us with dread. We stayed awake the entire night,” said Rafi Ahmad, a retired high school teacher.

“The horrifying night of 11 November 1999 came to mind, the night I lost my family, my entire world… when a mortar shell fired from across the border hit my house and killed my mother, my wife, my five-and-a-half-year-old daughter and my toddler son. This shelling along the LoC is horrific… I buried four of my loved ones,” Rafi said, his voice trembling.

Many others recall the horrors of past border encounters between the two armies along the LoC. In areas such as Karnah and Tangdhar, countless residents have borne the brunt of this decades-long conflict.

One of them is Abdul Rashid Lone, a social activist and writer. “We have been facing death and destruction from the day Jammu and Kashmir was divided, in 1948, by this unnatural line called the LoC. The line divided not just the land but families too. People on both sides have endured unimaginable pain, loss and suffering all these years. We’ve grown old with this burden,” Lone told National Herald.

Recalling the days when India and Pakistan fought a bloody war 60 years ago, he said, “I vividly remember the 1965 war. I was 18 at the time. Back then, there was no road infrastructure leading to the army’s forward posts. They used to take us for begaar work (forced labour) to carry ammunition and other essential supplies to the posts. It was the same for people on the other side of the border.”

Devastating news from Rajouri. We have lost a dedicated officer of the J&K Administration Services. Just yesterday he was accompanying the Deputy CM around the district & attended the online meeting I chaired. Today the residence of the officer was hit by Pak shelling as they…

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 10, 2025

It’s not just the people living in border areas who have suffered this decades-long hostility between the two neighbours. Nearly everyone in Jammu and Kashmir has a story of loss and suffering.

‘[On the night of 6–7 May] the residents of Srinagar were awakened by a huge blast and the sudden loud noise of warplanes flying overhead. Soon we learned that India had launched Operation Sindoor and Pakistan had vowed to retaliate. I began to gather information to write my first copy,’ veteran journalist Yusuf Jameel wrote on his Facebook timeline on the morning of 8 May.

‘I've seen active hostilities breaking between the two South Asian neighbours in 1965, when I was a kid, and in 1971, when in school. I saw it happening in Kargil… I’m going to see it again… I [have] witnessed the mayhem for over three decades and reported it — with a heavy heart… And, people say “you’re lucky [to] live in Jannat-e-Nazir (paradise on earth)”.’

Tahir Mohiuddin, a prominent editor and political commentator, believes the conflict and its repercussions will persist. “I don’t see this misery ending anytime soon. The very existence of the Pakistan Army is built on enmity with India. They rely on this perceived threat to justify their existence and the massive expenditure of taxpayers’ money on weapons and war machinery.” If the Kashmir issue were resolved, he says, the Pakistan Army would lose its raison d’être.

“Similarly, in India, the current regime has maintained its voter base by fostering a sense of enmity towards Pakistan. The party continues to reap political and electoral gains from the ongoing conflict, Pakistan’s aggression, and its support for cross-border terrorism. Why would they end this situation?”

My heart goes out to my college mate whose house in Nakyal, Kotli Azad Kashmir, was severely damaged in last night’s shelling. pic.twitter.com/iKVE1y8cee

— nimra. (@ughnimz) May 9, 2025

Sadly, for people living along the border, there is no immediate hope for an end to the ongoing firing and shelling, which has followed a disturbing pattern over the past ten days. Most of these incidents have occurred in four districts — Kupwara and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley and Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region.

, injuries and destruction of property, hundreds from Karnah have been forced to abandon homes, farmland with standing crops, and all their belongings in a desperate bid to stay alive. “Many have rented accommodation at the district headquarters in Kupwara while others have sought refuge in Srinagar. Just imagine the impact of this upheaval on the mental health of our children,” said Ishfaq Syeed.

“Even if the violence subsides and the guns fall silent along the border, one of the greatest challenges for villagers will be the threat posed by unexploded shells. Thousands of shells have been fired from across the border, and many have landed in fields and nearby forests. Over the past three decades, hundreds of people — including children — have lost their lives to accidental explosions caused by these hidden hazards in border areas.”

It is always the people of Jammu and Kashmir who bear the brunt of this never-ending hostility between India and Pakistan. For over seven decades — and especially in the past 36 years — they have endured relentless bloodshed and the destruction of homes and livelihoods. Says Ali Mohammad Wani, a retired teacher from Srinagar: “As the saying goes, ‘when elephants fight or make love, it is the grass that gets trampled’. The people of J&K are that grass.”