Prevailing tensions and continuous shelling along the border in Jammu and Kashmir are forcing farmers to wrap up their yields after the Pahalgam terror attack.
The three districts close to the International border, including Samba, Jammu, and Kathua, are racing against time to wrap up their yields from 1.25 lakh hectares of agricultural land that falls within the shelling range of Pakistan.
Also, Villages like Treva, Mahashe-de-Kothe, Chandu Chak, Gharana, Bulla Chak, and Korotana Kalan are witnessing a bustle of activity, with families’ working day and night to finish harvesting, dry the grain, and pack it for delivery to mills.
“We are racing against time to complete harvesting,” Santosh Singh, a 50-year-old farmer from Treva village in the Arnia sector, said to reporters, adding, “There is very little time left.”
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Treva is 1.5 km away from the border and is directly in range of the Pakistani rangers.
The alert was sounded by the authorities after terrorists shot dead 26 civilians in the Baisaran valley in Pahalgam on April 22, leading to subsequent border skirmishes between India and Pakistan.
“We live in a danger zone. Every time shelling starts, we face death and destruction,” said another farmer.
Despite the ongoing ceasefire pact of 2021, forces from both sides have traded light and small arms at each other since the Pahalgam strike.
“We feel it would be worse than the 2021 shelling and firing. It is likely to be war, which we witnessed in 1971.
We are better prepared this time. We will fully support our troops bravely from our villages,” 80-year-old Faqir Chand of Mahashe-de-Kothe village told reporters here.
While both sides have engaged in pushing a war agenda against each other on public platforms. Meanwhile, the international community has urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and avoid getting engaged in military or border conflicts.
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