Poonch (Jammu): Ibrar Ahmad, 26, a resident of Surankote, a town and tehsil 200 km north of Jammu, a relatively peaceful division of the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir, struggled to describe how his hometown became the site of death and destruction overnight.
On the morning of 7 May 2025, within hours of India announcing that it had carried out airstrikes inside Pakistan in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, a few dozen families from areas along the de facto border, the Line of Control (LoC), in Poonch district boarded cars and tempos and drove to Surankote, 27 km southeast of Poonch city.
It would be a safe haven, they believed.
After all, Surankote, surrounded by the Pir Panjal mountain range and housing a largely agrarian community dependent on farming and livestock, had remained untouched by shelling—through three wars and several smaller skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over the past seven decades.
Not this time.
“Suddenly, Pakistan army shells started falling here too,” Ibrar Ahmad recounted, sitting in a relief camp in Poonch, a government building now housing about 20 residents from nearby villages. “Homes shook, and panic spread rapidly.”
It was devastating, Ibrar Ahmad said, to realise that no place in Poonch, the district in Jammu known for its scenic beauty and landscapes, waterfalls and historic sites that tourists visit, was truly safe any more.
Killed As They Ran
As Pakistani artillery hammered Surankote on the evening of 8 May, people began to flee again, in the direction of open areas east of the town of more than 9,000.
Ibrar Ahmad's sister, Jabeena, a graduate student, said a group of strangers she had offered shelter to in her Surankote home earlier that day fled along with the family when artillery shelling shook the locality.
“People did not die only in their homes,” said Irshad Ahmad, a resident of Surankote who was working at a relief camp in Poonch town set up by the administration. “They were killed while running,”
The camp held 50 displaced families. Some bore injuries from falling debris as artillery shells hit structures they were fleeing. Many sat in stunned silence.
Ibrar Ahmad said shells fell as people ran. Bodies fell. “We moved the injured as far as we could,” he said.
No Bunkers, No Evacuation
Surankote’s people were not alone in experiencing the terror of war, with neither plans to evacuate local residents nor bunkers to shelter them. In Razarwani, a sub-village in Uri in Kashmir’s Baramulla district, about 270 km by road from Poonch, a similar story unfolded.
Razarwani, sitting adjoining the Jhelum and 15 km from the LoC, had never been affected by shelling before 2019.
On the evening of 9 May, however, the village faced intense shelling. A 40-year-old mother of six, Nargis Begum, urged her children to prepare to flee. “We left as soon as shelling started,” said Nargis’s daughter Sanam, 19. “Only 10 minutes later, a shell struck the Scorpio vehicle we were in.”
Ten family members were on board.
Initially, she thought it was her aunt who had been hit. Then she saw her mother, eyes closed and covered in blood. “I shouted at her, but there was no response,” said Sanam. “That’s when I realised she was dead.”
Sanam said they had never heard shelling in Razarwani, not even in 2019 when Uri was heavily impacted as tensions escalated along the border after the airstrike by the Indian armed forces in Balakot.
“Our area was safe then,” said Begum. “This time, it felt like war.”
The family had been preparing for the wedding of their elder sister in the next month when tragedy struck. “Now, even if there’s a war and both countries are destroyed, who cares?”
No Winners
On the evening of 12 May, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the armed forces and some celebrated what they viewed as a victory, the mood was far from triumphant in Poonch and Uri.
“... every step Pakistan takes will be judged strictly, no pretence, no excuses. Its actions, not words, will determine the price it pays,” Modi said during his address. “When our missiles and drones destroyed terror sites in Pakistan, not only were their buildings demolished, but their spirit too.”
At the Poonch relief camp, people cautiously welcomed the announcement of a full and immediate ceasefire. Almost everyone said the fighting had brought nothing but pain and destruction.
Razarwani resident Sanam, whose mother Nargis Begum died in the shelling, said the announcements of victory held little meaning for those caught in the crossfire.
“Both countries claim they’ve won the war,” she said bitterly, “but nobody thinks about us, those who lost loved ones. It is a shame.”
Shabir Ahmad, a student from Poonch, said Kashmiris, having suffered loss and devastation for years on account of the conflict, would pay the price once again. War has never brought solutions, he said.
“Look at the Israel-Palestine conflict. Years have passed, and what has it led to?” he asked. “Just death and suffering. Has anyone really won? I would say no.”
Irshad Ahmad, a shopkeeper from Rajouri, over 130 km north of Jammu, said it would take years to rebuild their lives. “Just look at what this three or four-day war did to our settlements,” he said. “Our homes lie in ruins.”
Ibrar Ahmad of Surankote cited the tragedy that hit the family of Vihaan Bhargav, a 13-year-old. The family was fleeing Poonch in the direction of Jammu town after a night of relentless shelling, when their vehicle was struck. Vihaan was hit in the head.
“He died on the spot,” said Ibrar Ahmad. “His father returned to their village with his son’s body.”
Mortar and artillery shelling involve firing explosive projectiles. Mortars, which are portable and fired at high angles over short distances of 0.5 km –7 km, are used to strike concealed or nearby targets. Artillery, with a much longer range (20 km to 50+ km) delivers powerful strikes capable of widespread devastation.
The union ministry of external affairs confirmed on 8 May that Poonch recorded 13 casualties and 59 injuries during the heavy cross-border shelling that took place on the night of 7 May.
On 10 May, Srinagar-based news agency GNS, quoting officials, reported that five people, including a woman, died due to fresh cross-border shelling in the Jammu region.
Teams of officials have fanned out in the region to assess damage to homes, shops and other facilities, a senior local government official told Reuters.
In his 12 May address to the nation, prime minister Modi did not mention the Kashmiris who lost their lives or homes.
Officials said the damage was being assessed, but preliminary reports indicated that over 200 structures were damaged in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
A Tenuous Peace Is Broken
In 2021, Article 14 reported that for the first time in 19 years, a whole year had passed without any cross-border shelling along the Line Of Control, the result of a successful ceasefire agreement built on backchannel talks between the two nations.
As farming, schools and markets bustled with activity, citizens sought the resumption of cross-LoC trade, a bus route and more.
Living in one of the most militarised border regions of the world, Kashmiris had in 2021 found respite, after at least 12,000 ‘ceasefire violations’ between 2003 and 2021.
That somewhat hopeful mood has now disappeared.
“Tell those who want war to come here,” said Ameena Begum, a 50-year-old woman. She said she would host visitors at her home at no cost. “Let them stay during the shelling. Only then will they understand what war really means.”
She lost her nephew, Mohammad Adil (28), besides other neighbours in between 8 May and 11 May, she said, lamenting that nobody who had not lost family members to violence could truly understand her pain.
Adil died when a shell struck their home in Sagra village in Mendhar, about eight to 10 km from the LoC, during the night of 8 May. The blast killed him and left several other family members injured, including a nine-year-old boy.
“It was night, and there was heavy shelling underway,” said Ameena Begum. They fled, walking several kilometres on foot, without even attempting to ferry the injured to hospitals.
‘We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’
Hakeem Deen, a 40-year-old resident of Dungus village in Poonch, said a bomb landed and exploded at the Zia-ul-Uloom, a seminary school in the town of Poonch, early on the morning of 7 May, killing the teacher, Qari Mohammad Iqbal, a well-known and respected man and injured three students, all of whom were minors.
Nothing remained of the seminary but debris, said Deen. “It felt like a full-scale war,” he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this, not even during the shelling before 2021.”
The elders in the locality said such intense shelling from across the border had not been witnessed even during the 1965 and 1971 wars between the two countries, said Deen.
Even as Qari’s family prepared for his funeral, another tragedy struck—some national TV channels reported that Qari Mohammad, a terrorist, had been killed in PoK by the Indian Army. “It was like rubbing salt in our wounds,” said Deen.
The Poonch police later issued an official statement rebutting these reports and warned of strict action against those spreading false information.
A friend of Qari, wishing to remain anonymous, told Article 14, “Pakistan claims Kashmir is its jugular vein, while India calls it an ‘atoot ang’ (inseparable part). Do they not realise they are destroying it every time they come close to war?”
The seminary was among several structures destroyed by shelling in Poonch. The town’s gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha was also damaged in the shelling, leaving four members of the Sikh community dead.
Sabar Singh, who heads the gurdwara, said a shell exploded at the site, partially damaging the structure. "Fortunately, no one was inside at the time, otherwise, nearly 100 people could have been killed," he said.
The same day, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann condemned the shelling in Poonch that killed civilians including four Sikhs. He expressed sorrow, and called for the safety of civilians along the LoC.
Jamroth Singh, 32, the nephew of Amreek Singh, one of those killed in the shelling, said that on 7 May they had awakened to news that there would be a mock drill by the administration. “While we were preparing for it, India launched an attack on Pakistan that night, and Pakistan retaliated. We became the victims of that crossfire.”
Amreek Singh’s son Mandeer Singh (17) said the government should have thought about common people before launching armed hostilities. “Both governments claim they won the war, but it is us who lost,” he said.
‘Losses You Cannot Imagine’
Afreen Khan, a 26-year-old from Poonch town, reached the government relief camp on 8 May.
She said her neighbour, Ursha Khan, lost both her children in the shelling, 14-year-old twins Zoya and Ayan Rameez. “How can we tell her that we won the war, when she has already lost everything that truly matters?” said Khan.
When a shell hit their house in the Poonch town, Ursha Khan’s husband was severely injured. Afreen Khan and her family said Ursha Khan had not yet told her husband, Rameez Ahmad Khan, who is undergoing treatment at the government medical college in Jammu, more than 200 km south of their hometown, about the tragic loss of their children.
“These are losses that no one could ever imagine,” Afreen said, her eyes brimming with tears.
Mohammad Altaf Khan (45), Rameez Khan's brother, said that Rameez had been calling from the hospital relentlessly, asking about the whereabouts of his children. “During their burial, he video-called me,” he said. “I stood on their grave and told him that the children were safe.”
Displaced & Dispossessed
Thousands of civilians were moved to safer areas as authorities continued to maintain a high alert along the border. After several days of intense cross-border shelling, both India and Pakistan declared a ceasefire on the evening of 11 May.
A government official said several key locations were currently serving as shelters for displaced families. These include government schools, private schools, temples, panchayat buildings and other government-owned spaces.
Satish Sharma, Jammu & Kashmir’s minister for food, civil supplies & consumer affairs; transport; and youth services and sports, told Article 14 that the plight of residents along the border was a matter of deep concern. “We are taking all necessary steps to ensure their safety, dignity, and timely rehabilitation. Every displaced family will receive the support they need until they can safely return home,” said Sharma.
He added that the administration was working to address immediate needs and ensure the adequate provision of relief services, including food, clean drinking water, medical aid, sanitation, and temporary education facilities for children.
At the Poonch relief camp, Ameena Begum (27) said she had lost contact with her husband when she fled her home in Poonch town. Her husband Mushtaq Ahmad, a labourer by profession, left home on the night of 8 May with their son and some neighbours, presumably looking for a safe place.
“I came here with another group along with my daughter,” Ameena Begum said. “Since then, there has been no contact.” The mother and daughter lost their cellphones in the mad rush to flee.
Nowsheen Begum, 27, from Krishna Ghati in Poonch, described a grim reality. "You'll find injured people in every family from Degwar, Jhullas, Sawajian, Mankote Shahpur and Qasba villages,” she said. These are villages located in close proximity to the LoC.
The mother of two recounted their narrow escape. They fled their village as shelling began on the morning of 7 May, in a neighbour’s vehicle, and reached relatives in Mandi, located only 1 km from the LoC. “Our homes are destroyed, but at least my family is safe,” she said. “That's what matters most now.”
Nowsheen Begum said what she had left behind was not just rubble. “It was our whole life.”
Samia Qazi, a journalist based in Poonch, said she witnessed death and destruction unfold before her eyes, with people fleeing and leaving behind all their belongings.
"No one was fully prepared, and the government didn’t issue any warning to residents before it happened," said Qazi. "People don’t have underground bunkers. It was chaos everywhere, no one knew who had survived and who hadn’t.”
She said had there been a proper evacuation plan, lives could have been saved. “Very few people here have underground bunkers. We can safely say no one was prepared for an emergency,” said Qazi.
Surfeen Akthar, a 58-year-old woman, said her family was building a new home in Poonch, but it was reduced to ruins in the shelling on 7 May.
"There was fire everywhere, it felt like we were moving through a massive blaze," she said, adding that people from villages in Poonch were fleeing, many on foot, throughout the night.
Akhtar said she lost her brother, Mohammad Akram, when the shelling intensified during the night. "He was trying to find a safe place, but a shell struck inside the house and killed him," she said.
Loss Of Livelihood, Homes
Mohammad Ayoob, 28, lost the vehicle he had purchased on loan just a month earlier to support his four children. When the shelling began, he thought the car was safe in the parking area.
“In the morning, I found it completely damaged from all sides,” said Ayoob.
Similarly, Faizan Khan, 26, who runs a shop in Poonch town, saw his livelihood, his shop, shattered. “There’s nothing left now,” he said.
“We had been hoping for lasting peace over the past few years, but it all turned out to be a lie,” he said. “Peace burst like a balloon before our eyes.”
On 12 May, J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah visited Poonch district to assess the damage caused by cross-border shelling.
He met those admitted to the district hospital, condoled bereaved families, visited damaged religious institutions, and held a review meeting with local leaders and officials to discuss relief, rehabilitation, and future preparedness measures.
Raj Kumar Thapa, the additional district development commissioner of Rajouri, was among those who died on 10 May. An artillery shell hit his official residence early in the morning, critically injuring him.
Officials rushed him to the government medical college, but he could not be saved. Two staff members were also seriously hurt in the attack,
(Tauseef Ahmad and Sajid Raina are Kashmir-based freelance journalists.)
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