Heavy Pak shelling leaves trail destruction in J-K's Poonch
PTI Poonch: A civilian looks at damaged properties after heavy firing and shelling by Pakistan military overnight across the Line of Control and International Border, at Mendhar area of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir. At least three civilians were killed and ten injured in the incident, according to officials.
Heavy Pakistani shelling in the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir left behind a trail of destruction on Wednesday. Nine people were killed and 28 others injured in the cross-border artillery and mortar shelling in this worst-hit border district, soon after India launched 'Operation Sindoor' early Wednesday to hit nine terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. The Pakistani shelling was not only restricted to Poonch, but was also witnessed in the forward areas of nearby Rajouri district in Jammu region, and Uri, Karnah and Tangdhar sectors in Kupwara district.
The indiscriminate shelling, described by residents and officials as "barbaric and cowardly", started around 2 am in the entire border belt, leaving dozens of residential houses damaged with their inhabitants running for cover after being woken up by the deafening sound of explosions. The Pakistani response involved the use of heavy artillery and mortars, targeting dozens of forward villages and densely-populated civilian areas in Mankote, Mendhar, Thandi Kassi and Poonch city, a police officer monitoring the situation on the ground said. The shelling left a trail of destruction -- damaged houses, broken shops, burnt vehicles, bloodstains, and debris-littered streets. Even heritage sites like the Poonch Fort and ancient temples were not spared.
"Targeting unarmed civilians is not bravery. It was is a cowardly act by Pakistan," the officer said. The residents in Poonch city reported a sleepless and terrifying night with shells exploding in close quarters, echoing through the hills. "It was like a war zone with the injured screaming for help and families forced to look for cover. The damage could be seen everywhere," Mohd Zahid, a local resident, said as he thanked his luck for escaping the shelling. More than 150 residents of Dhaki have shifted to the homes of their relatives after over a dozen residential houses were damaged by the shelling. "We were not expecting such a situation at the dead of the night. We were lucky to survive the shelling and, therefore, it was better to move to some safer place for the time being," said Khurshid Ahmad, a resident of Dhaki. Shells also landed near the UN station and forest department buildings in Poonch, causing extensive damage to both the structures. Five of the shelling victims, including two minor siblings -- Mohd Zain Khan (10) and his elder sister Zoya Khan (12) - died in the vicinity of the town. "Pakistan is retaliating to India's operation by targeting the civilian population. They missed the military targets and shelled us heavily overnight, killing our people and injuring many. The damage to our homes and property is massive," said Sardar Navneet Singh from Mankote. Mankote reported the first of the nine deaths in the Pakistani shelling when a mortar shell hit the house of Kala Singh, killing his wife Balvinder Kour and injuring their 13-year-old daughter. Mohammad Sadiq, a forest guard, said two of his colleagues were wounded after shells exploded near their office. Many frightened residents have started fleeing their homes in search of safer zones. "We are moving to safer places. There's fear everywhere," Maqbool Ahmed, who left Poonch with his family in a private vehicle, said. Videos circulating on social media showed the horror unfolding in the affected areas, drawing widespread outrage. Fire service teams have been deployed to control the blazes sparked by the shells. The local administration is coordinating the relief efforts, even as the situation remains tense with intermittent shells still hitting the area. National Conference MLA Aijaz Jan said, "The situation is worrisome given the damage caused by the shelling. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is closely monitoring the developments." Former Jammu and Kashmir DGP S P Vaid condemned Pakistan for targeting the civilian population.
"The Indian forces hit terrorist targets like the headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which have targeted security forces and innocent civilians in Jammu and Kashmir for the past 35 years," he said, hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for keeping his promise of avenging the Pahalgam killings. However, Vaid said that Pakistan once again exposed its behaviour by targeting civilians living close to the border.
The Indian Army is responding "in equal measure" to the ceasefire violations, officials said, reaffirming that civilian safety remained its top priority.
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How Pakistani military has metastasised like cancer inside society
The public plays along as the military intensifies its anti-India narrative and false propaganda and the Generals prosper at the expense of the economy read more 'Of all the countries I've dealt with, I consider Pakistan to be the most dangerous because of the radicalisation of its society and the availability of nuclear weapons.' —Jim Mattis, former US defence secretary and four-star Marine Corps General, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, 2019 General Mattis, who commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan War and Iraq War, realised three things: First, the Pakistani society is 'radicalised'. Second, Pakistan's political culture has 'an active self-destructive streak'. Third, US military interactions with Pakistan 'could only be transactional' as its military can't be trusted. The three factors are interwoven and describe the current state of Pakistan's mess. A nation born out of hatred and animosity, ruled directly or indirectly by its military, which sponsors terrorism and has radicalised its society, will keep on sinking into the abyss of self-destruction. Decades of hatred and enmity towards India—especially the dream of occupying J&K—systematically nurtured and propagated by the Pakistani military, have turned into a metastatic cancer which has spread deep inside its society. External affairs minister S Jaishankar rightly compared Pakistan to a cancer that has started affecting its society. 'Pakistan is an exception in our neighbourhood in view of its support for cross-border terrorism. That cancer is now consuming its body politic,' he said at the 19th Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai in January. Military supremacy and hatred for India Hatred for India and the Pakistani military's creation of the mirage of a Hindu nation being an existential threat unite its society. 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The military and the bureaucracy, therefore, became even more crucial players in Pakistan's life than they would have been had the circumstances of the country's birth been different.' Historian Ayesha Jalal, in her book The State of Martial Rule, explains how internal threats to the government were conflated with a defence against India. Thus, the difference between internal and external threats was blurred to the military's advantage. 'So in Pakistan's case, defence against India was in part a defence against internal threats to central authority. This is why a preoccupation with affording the defence establishment—not unusual for a newly created state— assumed obsessive dimensions in the first few years of Pakistan's existence,' she writes. The Pakistani leadership found it 'convenient to perceive all internal political opposition as a threat to the security of the state'. 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One of the arrangements under which the IMF has bailed out Pakistan is the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), a longer-term arrangement involving reforms to address the economy's structural weaknesses. On May 9, a day before the ceasefire, the IMF granted $1 billion to Pakistan as part of its $7-billion EFF and another $1.3 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The amount was a carrot dangled by the US-led IMF before Pakistan to end hostilities, and was vociferously opposed by India. Pakistan's economy was in negative territory twice in the last five years—2020, -0.9 per cent; 2021, 5.8 per cent; 2022, 6.2 per cent; 2023, -0.2 per cent; and 2024, 2.5 per cent In April, the IMF revised Pakistan's GDP growth in 2025 downward to 2.6 per cent from 3 per cent in January and 3.6 per cent in 2026 from 4 per cent citing the 29 per cent tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration. 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In her book Military Inc. – Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, Pakistani political scientist Ayesha Siddiqa terms the military's 'internal economy' Milbus, military capital used for the personal benefit of its personnel, especially officers. 'Pakistan's military runs a huge commercial empire with an estimated value of billions of dollars.' This capital is 'neither recorded nor a part of the defence budget. Its most significant component is entrepreneurial activities that are not subject to state accountability procedures'. The military is the sole driver of Milbus— and is 'an example of the type of Milbus that intensifies military interest in remaining in power or direct/indirect control of governance'. 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Socially, it 'increases inter-ethnic tensions (due to skewed military recruitment policies), reduces the acceptability of the military as an arbiter among political interests and increases the alienation of the underprivileged'. Moreover, building and sustaining the military's influence in power politics come at a cost. 'Evidence shows that military businesses are not run more efficiently than others. Some of the military's larger businesses and subsidiaries have required financial bailout from the government.' Meanwhile, the Army continues with its anti-India narrative despite losing four wars to India—and the public plays along. Anti-India rhetoric, sponsorship of terrorism in J&K and the portrayal of India as an existential threat to Pakistan sustain the military while development has come to a standstill. According to Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the father of modern linguistics, 'Pakistan just cannot survive' if it continues the confrontation with India. In an interview with the Dawn in May 2013, he said, 'Pakistan will never be able to match the Indian militarily and the effort to do so is taking an immense toll on society.' The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. He tweets as @FightTheBigots. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
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