At the intensive care unit in the Government Medical College and Hospital, Urusa Khan sat on her bed looking dazed and exhausted. Her voice was barely audible, and wept uncontrollably as soon as anyone walked into the room.
In the early hours of May 7, Urusa lost both her twins, Zain Ali and Urwa Fatima (both 12) to Pakistani shelling. The children along with their parents lived in Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir.
The escalation between India and Pakistan has wreaked havoc in the lives of people living along the Line of Control (LoC) region, especially in Poonch, where over 12 people have reportedly been killed since May 7.
While the family was speaking to us at the hospital, news regarding the ceasefire broke. Staring at his phone, the children’s uncle Sohail was struggling to find words. “This is a relief but it’s come at a cost. Our loss is irreplaceable,” he said.
The father of the children, Rameez Khan (44), is also undergoing treatment at the same hospital, after splinters pierced his liver and rib cage. He has not yet been told the news of his children’s death.
Urusa was unable to speak. Instead, her sister Maria Khan (28) spoke to us at length. Her account is based on what Urusa told her just hours after the attack.
Killed outside their school
At 1:15 am on May 7, Urwa and Zain called their relatives in Jammu. “They sounded scared. They told my brother, “Maamu, (uncle) can you come pick us up? There’s a lot of blasts going off here’,” explained Maria.
The next morning at 6:30 am, a family member reached Poonch. The children’s family was packed and ready to leave. He asked them to walk the short lane down towards where he had parked the car.
The house was located opposite the Christ school, run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, where the twins studied. They were in class 5.
Urusa stepped out, holding a bag in one hand and her daughter’s hand in another. Behind Urusa, her husband and their son were locking up the house and carrying the rest of their bags.
“That’s when they heard a loud blast behind them. The shell struck right behind their house and its pieces hit our little girl. She bled to death within minutes,” Maria said.
Urusa had recounted that for a few moments after the blast, she could not locate Zain, her son. “He had been flung away, and was found a few houses away, his stomach cut severely and his intestines spilling out. Local residents tried to revive him, but he passed away very soon,” explained Maria.
Urusa, along with the family members from Jammu, immediately rushed the children to the Poonch District Hospital. Their father could not be located at the time. Both Zain and Urwa were declared “brought dead.”
Within 30 minutes, their relative went back to find Rameez Khan also bleeding profusely. “They brought him to the hospital in Poonch. Thankfully they were able to control his bleeding,” said Maria.
The last rites of the children were conducted in the presence of Urusa in Poonch on the same day. By May 8, Rameez Khan was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital, where Urusa also remains under observation.
“She is in so much shock that she’s unable to articulate her pain. She hasn’t eaten or spoken much since the incident,” said Maria.
An appeal for safety
Maria and her husband Sohail, who are attending to the couple, said that they have an appeal to the government.
“We live in far flung border regions of this country. We should have basic facilities. We need a trauma care hospital, we need proper bunkers, and timely ambulances. Life and death is in the hands of God, but at least the government can try better to ensure our safety,” said Sohail.
That said, they also emphasised that, during this period of tension, “we are with the leaders of our country and appreciate everything being done”.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the family on May 8 to offer his support and condolences. On May 10, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during his daily briefing addressed Urwa and Zain’s death while responding to a question on Pakistan’s targeting of schools and religious places. “Tragically the shell fired from Pakistan hit the home of two students of the Christ school. Both students unfortunately lost their lives and their parents were severely injured,” he said.
Maria is struggling to come to terms with the family’s new reality. “Even if they financially compensate us, I don’t know how my sister is going to cope. She needs a job, she will have to find a way to get through this,” said Maria.
Rameez Khan, the children’s father, is now stable and conscious. He has been told that his children are at their grandparent’s place. “But one of these days, he is going to want to speak to them on the phone. Who will we call? What will we tell him?” Maria asked.
Maria constantly goes back to one memory:“Urwa was born five minutes before her brother Zain. When they died, she left the world five minutes before him.”
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