Amid fears of unexploded shells & ceasefire violations, Uri hopes for normalcy
'It will be a waste of money to renovate this house now because what all can we fix? It cannot sustain any pressure amid this uncertainty,' he says.
Two days later, Ashraf, a resident of Bandi village, which falls within five kilometres of the Line of Control with Pakistan, takes stock of the damage at his shelled house. He tries to salvage the belongings from his house, which had shattered windows, cracked walls and perforated the tin roof.
Uri: Mohammad Ashraf, 45, and his son-in-law Ishfaq Ahmed, rushed to shelter under their porch when they heard a siren at 5 am on 10 May. Within 10 minutes, a shell fell near their house and wrecked it.
Life in Uri town and neighbouring villages seems to have come to a halt because of the incessant shelling by Pakistan after India's launched Operation Sindoor at terror camps and centres in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on 7 May. Areas along the Line of Control have borne the brunt of the flare-up.
Although a ceasefire seems to be in place at present, most people have left Uri and neighbouring villages to seek refuge with relatives in Baramulla and other towns. Those without relatives have chosen to shelter at Govt. Degree College Baramulla.
Restaurants, grocery shops, farming and other activities are on hold. 'We have sent our women and children to Baramulla to my in-laws so that we don't have to think about their safety. We came here to take stock of the house, which is there but not there actually,' says 30-year-old Ishfaq Ahmed.
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Residents seek permanent ceasefire
Maqbool Bandey, a resident of Uri, says he wants both India and Pakistan to understand that local people are eager to return to normal life without the threat of attacks. 'It is easy to say temporary migration, but in the absence of your business, farms, home, etc. I can't even visit my kitchen garden because of the fear of shells.'
Bandey stayed in the village during the nights of 8 May to 10 May, taking shelter in a mosque with three others, and later moved to Degree College Uri on 11 May.
'We want Kashmir to be like any other aspiring part of the world with developments, jobs, tourism and, most importantly, normalcy,' says another resident.
In Lagama, 10 km from Uri's main market, Sajjad's grocery shop was hit with a shell on the night of 8 May.
Burnt musk melons, onions, bottles of kiwi and orange juice, a burnt weighing machine and tin sheets lay strewn in debris.
'At 11 pm on 8 May, Pakistan started shelling towards Uri, and India also retaliated. By 12 at night, I got to know about a fire incident in my shop, but I couldn't confirm because of continuous shelling. When we got up in the morning, we got to know we had lost everything,' said Sajjad.
He said business in Uri depends on a permanent ceasefire. 'Even if we start our business from zero again, it will get shelled in months or years. We don't feel like investing here.'
The picturesque town of Uri, surrounded by pine-covered mountains, was among the first areas attacked by Pakistani tribal forces during the 1947 invasion. Indian troops recaptured it days later. The town has since remained a flashpoint in every chapter of the India-Pakistan conflict.
On 11 May, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the town and tried to console shopkeepers. 'There should be better facilities here,' one shopkeeper told her.
'To hell with bunkers. Will you live in a bunker for your whole life? You should say, 'Let there be peace, and we don't need bunkers',' said Mehbooba.
Uri's National Conference MLA, Sajad Shafi, tells ThePrint that hundreds of houses have been damaged because of the shelling.
'We have suffered right from the 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars and the 1998 shellings, and for the last 35 years. Whenever there is hostility between two countries, it is the people on the border who suffer the most. We have lost lives, houses and agricultural lands,' says Shafi.
'This should be a permanent ceasefire. We want to live like the people of Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Islamabad and Karachi.'
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Drone warfare came home during Op Sindoor. Where does India stand?
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Swarms are more resilient than traditional drones due to in-built redundancy — even if one drone is intercepted, others can continue on the mission. Drone swarms are thus used to saturate air defences (a few payloads may sneak through even robust defences), gathering intelligence, and attacking high-value targets. Countries are already developing even more lethal AI-driven swarm drones, capable of making real-time decisions, adapting tactics mid-mission, and coordinating more complex manoeuvres. These are expected to become integral to combined arms warfare, functioning alongside infantry, armour, and cyber units. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global military drone market stood at $14.14 billion in 2023, and is projected to hit $47.16 billion by 2032. 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Scroll.in
an hour ago
- Scroll.in
India's ‘pushback' policy violates domestic and international law – but won't face global censure
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Until recently, 'pushbacks' meant that the Assam border police or the Border Security Force would stop individuals they spotted trying to enter India from Bangladeshi territory and force them to return or would 'push back' those who had managed to cross the border into India. 'But those were ad hoc cases,' Choudhury said. 'What we are seeing today seems to be a more large-scale systematic policy.' What is also unusual is India's decision to 'push back' refugees, said Nandita Haksar. 'The rate and cruelty with which refugees, including those recognised by the [United Nations High Commission for Refugees] are being deported even at the risk of their lives is new and disturbing,' she said. Ravi Nair agreed. 'India had pushed back people before…,' he said. 'But this kind of pure abduction and putting them into no man's land is clearly crossing the Rubicon.' 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Last month, Scroll reported that 40 Rohingya refugees who had been detained in Delhi alleged that they had been forced off a navy vessel in the Andaman Sea with life jackets on May 7 and told to swim towards Myanmar. Choudhury pointed out that the deportations of Rohingya refugees in this manner violated a 2021 order of the Supreme Court. In a case requesting a halt to the expulsions of Rohingya refugees, the court had said that they could be deported. But it explicitly mandated that deportations must adhere to due process, a directive that appears to be 'directly violated' by the current policy, Choudhury said. Breach of international law Experts told Scroll that 'pushing back' refugees violated India's obligations under international law and customary international law. The principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from returning individuals to a country where they would face persecution, is considered jus cogens – a peremptory norm of international law binding on all states. 'The principle of non-refoulement is also seen as a customary international law,' making it binding even if a country has not ratified specific conventions, Choudhury said. India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. 'But as a member of the UN General Assembly, which is the parent body of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, India is strongly expected to adhere by customary international law,' he said. 'Customary law transcends treaty obligations.' He pointed out that India is a signatory to the Bangkok Principles on Status and Treatment of Refugees, issued in 2001, and the United Nations Global Compact on Refugees, which India signed in 2018. Both mandate non-refoulement as a principle to be upheld by their signatories. India is also a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. These treaties too contain provisions that implicitly or explicitly uphold the principle of non-refoulement, particularly concerning the right to family unity and protection from inhuman treatment, said Aman Kumar, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University who runs the Indian Blog of International Law. 'When you return female refugees back to Myanmar, or you separate children from their parents through deportations, you violate these treaties,' Kumar said. He noted that India had an 'extensive and wide record of accepting refugees as a state practice.' He pointed to asylum granted over the decades to tens of thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tibet, in stark contrast to the current Indian government's hostility towards Rohingya refugees. Scrutiny of policy unlikely Internationally, India's 'pushback' policy is likely to attract scrutiny from United Nations agencies. On May 15, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar began an inquiry into alleged deportation of 40 Rohingya refugees from Delhi. The special rapporteur, Thomas Andrews, described these alleged acts as 'unconscionable' and 'unacceptable'. Many experts told Scroll that India is already receiving bad press on the issue internationally. However, direct action against India would face significant hurdles. If a country violates treaty obligations, action could be launched against it in the United Nations' International Court of Justice. But geopolitical realities often deter international action, Kumar said. 'India is too strategically important as a huge market and a potential alternative to China in the global supply chain,' he said. 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She pointed out that in June 2024, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had called for India to refrain from forcibly detaining and deporting Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. But Manchanda said she was 'unsure about how much traction this would get.' Kumar did not believe the policy would be halted. 'Legally there is essentially nothing stopping India from continuing to carry out such deportations,' he said.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Modi govt secured borders, strengthened economy: Minister Kamlesh Paswan
1 2 Prayagraj: Union minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan while addressing media persons in city on Wednesday recounted the achievements of the Modi govt . He said, "India has set on a new journey of development of service, good governance, and poor welfare in the Amrit Kaal of developed India. " He further said that in the last 11 years, Modi govt secured the borders, strengthened the economy and took technology to the masses. Through Operation Sindoor, PM Narendra Modi gave a clear message to the entire world, including Pakistan, that any attack on Indian soil will be considered an act of war. With indigenous technologies like the S-400 missile defence system, Brahmos, Akash missile, INS Vikrant, Tejas, and Prachand attack helicopter, India is now not only emerging as a self-reliant defence power but is also exporting defence equipment. Currently, India's defence exports have increased 34 times to reach Rs 23,622 crores. He said, "Modi govt during crisis has safely evacuated its citizens from every corner of the world, proving that the govt is committed to the safety of Indians not only within the borders but all over the world. Through Operation Ganga during the Russia-Ukraine war, Operation Devi Shakti during the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan, and Vande Bharat Mission during Covid, the Modi govt brought crores of Indians safely from abroad. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo At one time, 96 districts of the country were in the grip of Naxalism, but due to the decisive policy of the Modi govt, stringent action of the security forces, and the strategy of development, the Naxal-affected districts have been reduced to a few. Naxal incidents have reduced by 70%." Currently, India has moved towards becoming the 4th largest economy in the world, and around 49% of global digital transactions take place in India itself. The govt's technology-based e-governance system has given a new definition to transparency, timeliness, and accountability. Global institutions like IMF and UNDP have praised the efforts of the Modi govt towards poverty alleviation in the country, as a result of which about 25 crore people have come out of the PM Jan Dhan Yojana, the general public of the country has been connected to the banking system by opening 55.22 crore bank accounts, he added. Moreover, the success of Chandrayaan-3 in 2024 and now the preparation of Gaganyaan is proof that Modi's new India is moving ahead not only on earth but also in space. Apart from connecting 99% of villages with road connectivity, the railway budget has also been increased 9 times. Moreover, the number of airports doubled in the Modi govt, he further said. Paswan also said that the abolition of Article 370 from J&K, the world-class Kashi Vishwanath corridor, Mahakal project and Ram temple are no longer dreams but realities. The Nari Shakti Vandan Act has given 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. Over 10 crore women joined 90 lakh self-help groups, and a target of making 3 crore 'Lakhpati Didi' was set. Moreover, women got permanent commission in the army. India has the highest number of women pilots. The number of AIIMS has increased to 23, with 8 new IIMs, 7 new IITs, and 490 new universities established. The govt's Startup India scheme has made India the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. 40.71 crore health insurance cards were issued under Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
