Note: This story was reported three hours before the ceasefire was announced on May 10.
Wearing a pale pink salwar, Shakuntala Devi (73) walked with a severe limp, holding on to her grandson Kuldeep Singh’s hand for support. She hails from Pargwal, a region located along the border regions of Jammu district.
Pargwal was one of the regions that came under heavy shelling from Pakistan in the hours after Operation Sindoor. On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor against the terror attack in Pahalgam, and Pakistan responded with intense shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), killing nearly 18 people and injuring over 60.
The very same day, administrative authorities began evacuating villages along the border regions, including from Pargwal.
Shankuntala was among the hundreds who were displaced by the rising tensions between India and Pakistan since the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
Jammu and Kashmir Minister Satish Kumar told the media, “Eight to ten thousand border residents have been evacuated from the Rajouri-Poonch belt.” He added that food, shelter, and basic medical facilities were being provided to them. Currently, 13 camps have been set up in Jammu district alone.
Even though the two countries announced a ceasefire in the evening of May 10, the camp residents have been asked to stay back for a few more days for safety reasons. On May 11, an official at one of the camps in Jammu said that there are strict orders not to let anyone leave the camp for at least another three or four days.
“Until all the leftover ammunition and shells are defused, we can’t risk them going back,” he said. However, “Some of them managed to defy orders and leave the camp without our knowledge,” the official added.
Newslaundry and The News Minute visited two camps located in Jammu on May 10 afternoon. At both locations, officials informed us that we were not allowed to take photos or videos of the villagers or disclose the exact location of the camp. “This is for security purposes,” said a nodal officer present at one of the camps.
Not her first evacuation
On May 7, along with many from her village, Shakuntala Devi packed a small bag and boarded the crowded bus arranged for them. Within 3 hours, the bus reached Jammu.
Nearly 300 people from Pargwal region were placed in the same camp. The men and women were segregated; men occupied the top floor while women stayed in the basement.
When the doors to the camps occasionally opened, we could see hundreds of mats laid down next to each other. People were resting, talking, or eating.
Standing with her grandson outside the building, Shakuntala Devi explained that she spent her time at the camp speaking with her villagers. When asked if she was scared or nervous about the situation, she smiled and shrugged. “This is not the first time any of this is happening,” she said.
She recalled the winter of 1971, when India and Pakistan had a tense military confrontation. “I was barely 19 years old, a young bride, when intense shelling began,” she said. Back then too, she and her new family had been evacuated to Jammu for about a week. “I didn’t think too much last time, my life had just begun.”
However, she explained that this time has been the “most tense situation” that she has witnessed.
Since 1971, Shakuntala Devi has been temporarily displaced at least two more times, whenever tensions rose between the countries. The region has also witnessed shelling from the Pakistani side on multiple occasions.
“If things feel uncertain, we go and take shelter in the bunkers in our village itself,” said her grandson Kuldeep Singh.
In 2021, of the 14,460 bunkers that were sanctioned, about 8,000 underground individual and community bunkers were constructed for residents in five districts of Jammu, Kathua, and Samba.
Kuldeep said he came to the camp with Shakuntala to drop her off safely. “I will now go back because someone has to take care of the house and crops,” he said.
When asked if he was worried about the shelling, he said, “We’re used to this now. It’s our reality. We can’t run from it.’
Shakuntala Devi also wants to go back. “What is the point of this? I prefer to be home in my village now.”
Constant fear and dysfunctional bunkers
In the same camp, Balwan Singh (65) was staying with his family of five – wife, two sons, and a daughter-in-law. They too are from a village in the Pargwal region.
Balwan and his brother share nearly five acres of land where they mostly grow wheat. He owns six cows. A week before the escalation between the two countries, the brothers had just harvested their crop.
“We dropped everything and came here. Now our crop will get damaged and go to waste. Who is going to account for such loss?” he asked.
Like Shakuntala Devi, he too is used to this. “I was 10 years old when we were first evacuated,” he said. Since then, he has been evacuated twice, including this time, which he described as “the worst” of what he has seen.
In Balwan’s village, the bunkers are entirely dysfunctional. “All year round, it is filled with water. How will we seek shelter there? It’s a joke,” he said.
So how does the family seek shelter when there is shelling? “We pray,” he said, laughing.
On many previous occasions, residents in border regions have raised the issue of defective and deteriorating state of the bunkers.
On May 7, when Balwan and his family made the decision to evacuate, it was decided that despite the life-threatening risk, his brother would stay back. “Someone has to look after the poultry. We also have six cows. They will die of starvation if we drop everything and run each time,” he explained, adding that he was very worried for his brother.
Balwan and family are frustrated. “We stand with our government, but I would prefer if this was finished once and for all. This constant running is painful. But what can we do, we have to roam like dogs each time the two countries decide to argue.”
Stranded migrant labourers
The mood in the second relief camp in Jammu was different. As soon as we walked in, we were met with hostility. “Go back, we don’t want to speak to the media,” said the people.
An official, who refused to be named, whisked us away. “They’re very upset,” he said.
He explained that on the intervening night of May 7 and 8, a loud bang was heard near this particular camp in Jammu. “The villagers think that Pakistan targeted them after the media exposed their location. It is an unfounded but real fear,” he said.
The camp housed nearly 400 people from Garkhal, in the Akhoor area of Jammu district. Of them, 120 were migrant labourers from Bihar who were working in Garkhal.
The migrants and local residents lived separately in two different buildings in the camp.
“The Bihari migrants and locals from Garkhal are now fighting over food,” said the official. He added that all 400 of them are receiving food, shelter, and basic medical facilities, including visits by doctors.
While the residents from Garkhal refused to speak with us, the migrant workers wanted their voice to be heard. Most of them were from the Araria and Purnia regions of Bihar and worked as labourers on the lands of local residents.
Munna Kumar (20) is currently at the camp with his wife, 11-month-old baby, and 16-year-old brother. They have been living in the border village for over a year and half.
The official we spoke to had explained that the migrants had been told that if they wanted to, arrangements would be made for them to go back to Bihar. However, Munna alleged otherwise. “Nothing of that sort has happened. When we say we want to go back, they threaten us to sit here and say we can’t leave now.”
At the relief camp, Munna said the local landlords from Garkhal are not allowing the migrant workers to share the food equally. “They take four slices of bread and give us only two. Why should there be this discrimination? We are getting hungry,” he said.
Preeti Devi (24) has been living in Garkhal for nearly five months with her family. She works as a farm labourer and makes nearly Rs 400 a day. “But I have not been paid per day and I am still owed about Rs 20,000. I can’t just leave that and go to Bihar now,” she explained.
Among the seven migrant workers we spoke to, nearly five of them repeated similar reasons — while they would like to go back to Bihar, the migrants said they cannot leave as they are still owed their remuneration from the landowners.
As sections of the mainstream media fuel misinformation, Newslaundry will continue to bring you credible analysis, verified updates, and ground reports on Operation Sindoor. Power our journalism with a subscription.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
