Chowkibal residents plead for individual safety bunkers
Kupwara, May 20: Following the recent cross border shelling in Chowkibal and other adjacent villages of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, the residents have appealed to authorities for immediate construction of individual underground bunkers so that they can take shelter in them to safeguard their lives at the time of any possible need in future.
The demand has resurfaced after the recent shelling incidents in the area which left several houses damaged and families homeless. Though Chowkibal is located nearly 60 kilometers from the Line of Control (LoC) but the severity and gravity could be realised that several houses came under shelling raising safety concerns among the locals, who are now living in constant fear in absence of bunkers in the area.
"During the recent shelling from Pakistan, we were confined to four walls of our homes for several days and could hardly move outside. The explosion of mortar shells was deafening and we could feel tremors with every mortar shell that landed in our village,” Mumtaz Ahmad, a resident of Zunreshi Chowkibal told Greater Kashmir.
"Our area happens to be far from the LoC, but the threat still persists. Even several mortar shells hit the main market of Chowkibal rendering significant damage to shops and most importantly causing a fear of psychosis among the locals" he added.
Residents of the area recall the tragic loss of lives in 2020, when Pakistan resorted to indiscriminate shelling in the Chowkibal sector, which claimed three lives including a child, a woman, and a man. Several houses also witnessed extensive damage in the same incident.
"Following the shelling in 2020, we repeatedly requested authorities to construct underground bunkers in our area but after the passage of several years nothing has been done in this regard so far" said another local of the area.
Other adjacent villages of Chowkibal including Redi, Sonthipora, Zunreshi, Marcery, Tumina, Tee Pee, and Rangwar have also been asking for underground bunkers. Residents from these areas said that the underground bunkers were an absolute necessity given the unpredictable and deadly nature of cross border shelling.
The residents said that they have submitted multiple representations in this regard; urging administration to address their genuine concern, however nothing concrete has materialized so far. "The government is supposed to protect its people but we feel abandoned. The government must do something in this regard before any other tragedy strikes" said Abdul Rashid of Sonthipora Chowkibal.
