Shells and bullets are hurtling thicker and faster than ever between Indian and Pakistani forces across Kashmir's ceasefire line, killing and maiming at a rate not seen in the entrenched conflict for two decades.<\/p>\n
Zameer Ahmad was building a community bunker on the Indian side of the Himalayan region's disputed frontier -- officially known as the Line of Control (LoC) -- when a sniper round fired from Pakistani-controlled territory struck the ground nearby.<\/p>\n
Ahmad and co-worker Sadakat Hussain took cover behind a wall in the village of Simari. \"We finally decided to try to run but we both got hit,\" the 26-year-old told AFP.<\/p>\n
Ahmad took a bullet in the stomach and now has to wear a colostomy bag. Hussain, 23, walks with a limp because of his wounded foot.<\/p>\n
\"It is scary, we just don't know why the firing starts,\" said Hussain, speaking during a visit to the frontier zone organised by the Indian military.<\/p>\n
Similar stories are told on both sides of the 344-kilometre (213-mile) partition amid ever-tougher talk between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have fought two wars over the region in the past seven decades.<\/p>\n
Scores of civilians have been killed this year, and a UN observer mission car was struck by a bullet in December.<\/p>\n
India says at least 10 of its forces have been killed by artillery shells or sniper fire from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir since the start of November.<\/p>\n
It claims Pakistan violated a 2003 ceasefire accord more than 5,000 times last year -- the highest since it started.<\/p>\n
About 20 civilians were killed over the year, and incidents included drones dropping grenades into Indian territory.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, in turn, accuses India of more than 3,000 violations in 12 months, leaving 29 dead, 250 civilians wounded, and hundreds of buildings destroyed or damaged.<\/p>\n
Jura, just four kilometres from the LoC in the Neelum Valley, has been worst hit on the Pakistani side, authorities say.<\/p>\n
- House arrest -<\/p>\n
The shelling can last for hours or days, the town's residents told AFP. Half the homes have blast damage and the farmland is pock-marked with craters.<\/p>\n
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\"Most of the time we are shut up in our house. It is a war on us,\" Amna Bibi, 40, said while washing clothes outside her home.<\/p>\n
In the nearby village of Chilyana, the 500 inhabitants also rarely stray outside.<\/p>\n
\"When we leave in the morning to open our shop, we don't know if we will return home,\" Khawaja Zubair Ahmad said.<\/p>\n
With each side blaming the other, the firing is at dangerous levels, according to observers.<\/p>\n
Residents say tensions have risen since February 2019 when India staged an air attack on Pakistani territory after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian troops in Kashmir.<\/p>\n
India says Pakistan uses shelling to cover increased attempts to infiltrate militants across the line to fuel an insurgency.<\/p>\n
Pakistan has been incensed by India's revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir's semi-autonomous status in 2019 -- \"a move that Islamabad regarded as a particularly serious provocation\", said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.<\/p>\n
Residents on the Indian side say Pakistan deliberately cut off their water supply for farms. Pakistan bemoans the closure of a bridge that until last year was used to bring divided families together.<\/p>\n
Khaleel ul Rahman, village head in Sudhpura on the Indian side, rushes to his cow shed and stays with the animals when a midnight barrage starts.<\/p>\n
Sudhpura suffers badly even by Kashmir's violent standards. It is surrounded on three sides by Pakistan-administered Kashmir and a third of the village is on the Pakistan side.<\/p>\n
Shells also fall when markets are open and children are in school. \"People just panic. It is like a stampede,\" said local school principal Mansoor Ahmad.<\/p>\n
Observers say though that neither India nor Pakistan is in a rush to find a solution. The Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi and Muslim administration in Islamabad are too entrenched.<\/p>\n
\"The history of India-Pakistan relations has had many more lows than highs, and right now we're experiencing a particularly ugly, prolonged low,\" said Kugelman.<\/p>\n
\"There is little incentive on either side to dial down tensions.\"<\/p>\n
Rival prime ministers Narendra Modi and Imran Khan both offered better relations on taking office -- Modi even visited Pakistan -- but their gestures were rejected by the other.<\/p>\n
Modi boasted last year that Pakistan would \"bite the dust\" in seven to 10 days if it started a new war. Khan replied last month that India would get a \"befitting\" response if it tried anything.<\/p>\n
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The out-of-control line between India and Pakistan - Yahoo News Australia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shells and bullets are hurtling thicker and faster than ever between Indian and Pakistani forces across Kashmir's ceasefire line, killing and maiming at a rate not seen in the entrenched conflict for two decades. Zameer Ahmad was building a community bunker on the Indian side of the Himalayan region's disputed frontier -- officially known as the Line of Control (LoC) -- when a sniper round fired from Pakistani-controlled territory struck the ground nearby. Continue reading