India : India has now started building more than 14,000 bunkers suitable for families living along its border with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, hoping to keep them safe near their homes instead of evacuating them as artillery shells scream over.
On Tuesday evening, Pakistan used heavy calibre weapons to shell 12 to 15 places along the Indian side of the de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Kashmir region, a spokesman for the Indian defence forces said. The Indian army retaliated with its own shelling of the Pakistani side, he said.
This incident had created “panic among people”, said Rahul Yadav, the deputy commissioner of the Poonch district, a remote area of the Indian state that faced some of the attacks.
The new shelters, which were planned before this week’s spike in tensions, are supposed to reduce that fear and prevent people from having to flee when the shelling begins.
