Kupwara, Srinagar: At 12:30 am on 7 May 2025, the calm in Baghballa village in this Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) district was shattered, as sirens rang out from a nearby military base, accompanied by a barrage of gunfire and mortar explosions.

“We didn’t know anything before it started,” said 27-year-old Khurshid Poswal. “It was sudden, horrifying and distressful.”

“At first, we thought it was a normal border escalation. But we got concerned for our lives by witnessing the intensity of the shells and sound of low-flying jets,” Poswal said. 

Villagers recounted Pakistan’s shelling of the border areas in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after India hit terrorist sites inside Pakistan, two weeks after terrorists killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in Kashmir. 

At least 16 civilians died and 59 were wounded, including four children, in India. All the fatalities occurred in the Poonch district of the Jammu division, 250 km from Kupwara.

The civilian population along the LoC and the international border had not been entirely evacuated when Pakistan began shelling on 7 May. 

 An Indian soldier was also killed in cross-border shelling.

The conflict between the two nations increased in intensity during the night of May 8 and 9 as both India & Pakistan operationalised artillery, drones, missiles, integrated missile and air defense systems, while heavy shelling along the LoC caused panic and fear among locals. 

“Clashes between the Indian and Pakistani forces are far more intense than in previous years,” journalist Umar Meraj, in Srinagar, told Al Jazeera. “What used to be occasional small firearms has escalated to the heavy exchange of artillery.”

As that happened, the union government escalated an online crackdown.

On 8 May, X, formerly Twitter, said that the Indian government had ordered 8,000 accounts blocked nationwide. X said it would “withhold the specified accounts in India alone” to comply with the government’s orders, but “we disagree with the Indian government’s demands”.

The government suspended the accounts of the Kerala-based independent website Maktoob Media and the Kashmir-based news website The Kashmiriyat. It did not explain why.

Escalation On 8 May 

The conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours escalated on 8 May, with India claiming it had hit air defence systems in Lahore after Pakistan launched missiles and drones in the early hours of Thursday to try and target 15 Indian military installations in the northern and western sectors, from Srinagar in the north to Bhuj in the west.

Indian military sources attributed explosions in the city of Jammu on the night of 8 May to a Pakistani drone attack. India said its air defences had stopped Pakistani drone and missile attacks on military targets. Pakistan said it shot down 25 drones from India overnight.

According to the Press Trust of India, Jammu plunged into darkness after two powerful explosions were heard near the airport, causing an immediate power outage.

Blackouts were imposed in multiple districts of Punjab and Chandigarh, and schools, colleges, and other educational institutions were ordered to remain closed in parts of J&K and other parts of north India.

Air India cancelled flights to and from regional airports, including Srinagar and Amritsar, until May 10, while SpiceJet and IndiGo issued travel advisories. Chief minister Omar Abdullah on 7 May directed the release of Rs 5 crore in contingency funds to each border district and Rs 2 crore to other districts of Jammu and Kashmir to enable local administrations to respond to the deteriorating situation caused by Pakistani shelling swiftly.

The Resistance Front (TRF), thought to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, initially claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on 22 April.

Indian officials, on 7 May, claimed the attack was masterminded by National Investigation Agency (NIA)-designated terrorist, and leader of the TRF, Sheikh Sajjad Gul, who they believe resides in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Indian missile strikes on targets inside Pakistan were followed by claims that Pakistan had shot down five Indian jets. 

Reports on 8 May claimed India had shot down at least two Pakistani jets and that two Pakistani pilots were in Indian custody. 

‘Darkness In The Air’

Khurshid Poswal said at least 15 to 20 houses were destroyed in Baghballa on 7 May, while several others were severely damaged.

Displaced families have sought refuge wherever they can, some with relatives, others with neighbours.

“They’ve been forced to leave their homes,” Poswal said. “Some are living at their brother’s place. Some have shifted into crowded rooms with friends or neighbours. This is how people are surviving now.”

“The people living around the area are witnessing psychological trauma,” said Abdul Hafeez, a middle-aged man who lives in Baghballa. “There’s a darkness that hangs in the air.” 

“People are anxious. No one wants to go to work. How can we? One moment, everything is quiet, and the next, there’s firing,” he said. “How do we live like this?”

‘We’ve All Left Our Homes’

Abdul Latif Khan, a 70-year-old resident of a Batpora village in Kupwara district, said that he remembered the shelling in 1998 that killed four members of his family: two of his children, his wife, and his aunt. Their home was severely damaged, and even today, the scars of that evening remain.

“Just last night, there was shelling again. Several houses were damaged—one completely reduced to ashes. That house belonged to my cousin brother, Javed Ahmad Khan,” said Khan, who was in Srinagar attending a wedding when the shelling in his village began. 

“He’s 45 and works as an accounts clerk in the tehsil office. Now, he has nothing left. Many other families in our area have also lost their homes, at least four to five in just one village,” he said. “We’ve all left our homes. The area is too dangerous. Local officials have asked villagers to vacate for their safety. Our house too lies empty. We don’t even know yet how many were injured.”

Fayaz Karnai, a 36-year-old resident of Baghballa, described the horrors of life on the border.

“The whole area is living in fear right now. About 60% of the people have already fled,” said Karnai. “The damage is in crores. Around 7 to 10 houses have been completely burnt down—the others, maybe 60 to 70% damaged. Families are staying outside, in the open. They sit there for a while, unsure of what to do.”

“That night, there was no warning. The situation was tense, but then firing started around one or 1:30 in the night,” said Karnai. “There are 150 bunkers here in Karnah, and we had a population of nearly 90,000. The conditions are still very critical.”

“We want the government of India to look at us. Save us. Bring back peace like before, so we can live in our homes again and raise our children,” he said. “Who doesn’t want peace?”

Evacuations 

The New Indian Express reported that hundreds of residents along the LoC and the border were evacuated on 7 May. 

Authorities in Poonch have designated nine public shelter camps for people to relocate to from villages hit by Pakistani shelling along the LoC, an official said on 7 May.

But Zafar Choudhary, a political analyst and journalist based in Jammu, told Al Jazeera, “People in Poonch are angry because there was no attempt to get them evacuated.” 

Choudhary said that the Indian government should have anticipated the Pakistani strikes, and people should have been evacuated to avoid casualties. “But none of that happened, which has left people infuriated."

Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose said on 8 May, "Qs to Modi government: while we had mock drills across India with a mixed response, why didn't we ensure that all border villages were evacuated well in time? Every life matters."

Deccan Herald reported "mass evacuation" in J&K border districts on 8 May.

‘We Live In Constant Fear’

Balkote, a frontline village in the Uri tehsil of Baramulla district, neighbouring Kupwara, was one of the most impacted areas during artillery firing. 

Speaking on the phone on 7 May, Javed Ahmad Wani, a Balkote resident, said villagers were desperate for bunkers. He had started constructing his bunker but could not finish it due to financial constraints. 

“We need bunkers, and we need them now," he said. "We can't afford to wait for the government to act. We need to take matters into our own hands. I spent nearly Rs 65,000, but my bunker still lacks a proper slab and protection.”

"We don't even have material for that. We don't have wood, shingle stones, or enough money to make our bunkers," said 72-year-old Abdul Gani, another resident of Balkote, speaking over the phone about bunkers.

Soon after the Pahalgam attack, locals began cleaning out old bunkers and building new ones. Yet many residents of border villages said the “deteriorating state” of bunkers has left them vulnerable.

Authorities had reportedly ramped up the construction of concrete reinforced bunkers in J&K's border areas in the aftermath of the attack.

“Presently, there are 42 bunkers being constructed along the LoC villages in Uri,” a senior official in Baramulla told Rising Kashmir, adding that the bunkers, which cost Rs. 10 lakh each and can accommodate around 100-120 people, would be completed by the end of the year.

Mohammad Rafiq Balote, a resident of Gharkote village in Baramulla district, said that the perpetual sounds of small firearms and artillery were disturbing. 

Balote recalled an incident from 1995, when a mortar shell killed a farmer watering his wheat field. 

"Bullets don't ask about the religion or caste of their targets. They kill without discrimination, leaving deep scars behind. I was a child then, but the incident remains etched on my mind," said Balote, speaking over the phone. 

A doctor at the government hospital in Baramulla spoke of one family whose house was hit by an artillery shell on 7 May, saying the father and his eight-year-old son sustained head injuries, and the sister-in-law was in surgery for a chest injury caused by shrapnel. An 18-year-old boy was injured when a splinter came through his bedroom window. 

Article 14 could not independently verify this information.

"We are living in constant fear," said Amira Begum, a resident of Tajal village in Baramulla district, speaking over the phone. “We don't know when the next shell will fall, or when the next strike will come. We just want to live in peace. Is that too much to ask?"

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this article quoted a villager saying that 500 to 600 houses in the Karnah sector in Kupwara district were damaged. We have learnt this information is incorrect, and the number of damaged houses would be about 100. Since we cannot independently verify these figures at this time, we have removed them from the report.)

(Abrar Fayaz is an independent journalist who reports on social movements, conflict, human rights and gender. Zaid Malik is an independent journalist who reports on healthcare, social justice and the environment.)

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