“Luckily My Sons Escaped Unhurt”: J&K Woman Injured In Pak Shelling

Jammu:

She was feeding her children when a mortar shell exploded with a deafening sound, Rajni Devi said from her hospital bed, narrating the harrowing experience of Pakistani firing as she comforted her infant son. “I was hit by splinters but luckily my children escaped unhurt,” she added.

Ms Devi, 38, and a BSF jawan were injured in the cross-border shelling by Pakistan Rangers that began around 8 pm on Thursday in the Arnia area of Jammu and Kashmir’s RS Pura sector and lasted nearly seven hours. It was the first major ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Arnia in over five years.

Ms Devi, a resident of Kashipur, sustained splinter injuries to her right arm and is undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu.

“While I dropped my eight-year-old son at my brother’s house, the younger one, who is one and a half, is more attached to me and is not willing to leave. He has a fever since the day of the incident,” she said.

Rajni Devi’s husband and mother-in-law are tending to her at the hospital and she hopes to return home soon since it is the harvest season.

“We faced Pakistani shelling in our village after over five years. It has caused fear among the locals. I have little children and I am very concerned about their safety,” she said.

Her mother-in-law Rani said Pakistan began violating the ceasefire by firing small arms and later went on to pound the village with mortar shells.

“Life in the border villagers has become miserable. We are farmers and have no other source of income. If we fail to harvest paddy around this time, we will face heavy losses,” she said.

Chief Medical Officer Sony Singh said Ms Devi’s and the BSF jawan’s condition was stable and that they will be discharged soon.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)