Javaid Iqbal, a resident of Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, downloads a photo from his phone. It shows a little girl sporting a pink woollen beanie, a grey trinket slung loosely around her neck – her face beaming in a wide smile.
His daughter, Maryam, 5, who was only recently pictured in the photo, was delighted to pose for the photo. She is no longer with us today.
Maryam was killed on the morning of May 7 when an explosive landed on their home in Sukha Katha, a cluster of some 200 homes in Poonch district of Indian-administered Kashmir, some 20km (12 miles) from the Line of Control (LoC), India’s de facto border with Pakistan in the disputed Himalayan region.
Iqbal, 36, cries out while holding his phone in his chest, “Oh, Maryam.” I can’t bear to lose this, I tell myself.
Maryam was among at least 21 civilians – 15 of them in Poonch – killed in cross-border shelling in Indian-administered Kashmir in early May as the South Asian nuclear powers and historical enemies engaged in their most intense military confrontation in decades. They exchanged missiles and drones for four days before declaring a ceasefire on May 10 and stood on the verge of their fifth conflict.
Even though the conflict continues, a truce has been established, and both countries have launched diplomatic outreach efforts to persuade the world about their narrative in a conflict that dates back to 1947, when the British split the subcontinent and carved its way into India and Pakistan.
But for families of those who lost relatives in the cross-border firing, the tenuous peace along the LoC at the moment means little.
Iqbal yells, “My heart bleeds when I think about how you [Maryam] died in my arms.
The earth shook beneath us, according to the legend.
For decades, residents along the LoC have found themselves caught in the line of fire between India and Pakistan, who have fought three of their four previous wars over Kashmir. Two sizable parcels of the region are under Chinese control, with China also administering the other two parcels. However, Pakistan also claims all of Kashmir, with the exception of parts of the region that are ruled by China, its allies.
In 2003, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC that – despite frequent border skirmishes and killings of civilians on both sides – broadly held, and was renewed in 2021.
In Pahalgam, a picturesque resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, gunmen killed 25 tourists and a Kashmiri pony rider on April 22, triggering the most recent chapter of the India-Pakistan-India conflict.
Islamabad refuted the accusations that New Delhi made of Pakistan supporting the gunmen. Since the beginning of an armed rebellion against India’s rule in Indian-administered Kashmir in 1989, New Delhi has accused Islamabad of training and financially supporting the rebels. Islamabad claims that the separatist movement only receives diplomatic and moral support from it.
The Indian military launched missiles at several cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on May 7 to condemn the killings of the Pahalgam. India claimed it struck “terror camps” and killed about 100 “terrorists”. More than 50 people were killed, according to Pakistan, the majority of whom were civilians and also had members of the military as victims.
Pakistan fired a lot of shots from across the border. Iqbal says he was jolted awake at about 2am on May 7 by the sounds of artillery shells landing “one after the other, their thuds rattling the earth beneath us”.
He told Al Jazeera, “I made frantic calls to everyone I knew, including police, administration officials, and toll-free emergency numbers like 108, pleading with them to save me and my family.” “But no one arrived,” he said.
He says he huddled his family – his wife, three children and three children of his brother who were with them at the time – in an outhouse abutting their main house, hoping that cinder blocks on top of the structure would make it more resilient to any Pakistani shells.
The explosions continued to occur.
He claims that a shell scurried across the mountains shortly after sunrise, leaving behind a trail of smoke, and causing an explosion close to their shelter. Its splinters hurtled in every direction, blasting through the walls behind which Iqbal and his family had sought refuge.
As he perched his gaze through the murky haze, his focus was on Maryam, whose tiny body was strewn among the debris, which had soaked up her blood.
“I requested assistance from a friend. He alerted the administration, who sent an ambulance, which tried to come near our house, but the continuous shelling forced it to return”, , he said, adding that the ambulance attempted to come closer five times but could not.
Maryam was dead by the time the shelling was over and they were able to visit the hospital. Iram Naaz, her sister, was also struck by a splinter in her forehead, and is recovering in the family’s ancestral village in Qasba, close to the LoC.
A ghost town
Sukha Katha received three days of shelling. Today, it appears to be a ghost town, only to experience the ominous silence of strong winds sweeping through the windows and doors of empty homes, with dust and fluttering curtains all over them.
Most residents who fled the shelling haven’t returned.
According to resident Muhammad Mukhar, a 35-year-old resident, “there are about 200 homes here and they are empty because everyone has fled to safety.” Only a few people, including him, remained. “We are just keeping an eye out for thieves. Because things are still uncertain, these townpeople are unlikely to make a comeback soon.
According to Kashmiri political analyst Zafar Choudhary, the villagers still harbor concerns about additional attacks. He says the loss of civilian lives on the , Indian side of the border in Poonch , is due to the “peculiar” topography of the region, which confers a “unique advantage” to Pakistan.
He claims that Pakistani army posts are perched high on mountain tops, overlooking the civilian habitations there, while the majority of the towns and villages on the Indian side are located down in valleys. The Pakistani side’s impact on civilians would be minimal, even if India retaliated. This makes border towns such as Poonch vulnerable”.
An asphalt road weaves through the forests and ravines of Poonch and Jammu, a town of deteriorating brick and rebar towns in southern India, connecting the plains of Jammu with the towns of Khanetar, which are dotted with life-size advertisements for sodas.
Vihan Kumar, 13, was killed inside the family’s car in this village when a Pakistani shell explosion occurred while they were attempting to flee the firing.  , The boy died on the spot, his skull ripped open.
Sanjeev Bhargav, Vihan’s father, recalls that “it was a loud sound, and at once my son was in a pool of blood.” Vihan breathed his last at the Poonch district hospital right away. Vihan was the only child of his parents.
The “Naked Dance of Death”
Arusha Khan, a 46-year-old teacher, is battling for his life at the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, the second-largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) southeast of Poonch, where his husband, Rameez Khan, is battling for his life after shrapnel punctures the left side of his liver.
They are mourning the loss of their twins – son Zain Ali and daughter Urba Fatima – who died in the shelling of their house on May 7. In April, they had turned twelve.
When the terrified twins called their uncle, Arusha’s brother Aadil Pathan, who was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away and pleaded with him to save them, they were cowering inside their Poonch home.
“The children were scared to their wits ‘ end”, Arusha’s sister Maria Pathan tells Al Jazeera over the telephone. “Aadil left his car at 5:30 am and drove to their destination an hour later.”
Aadil apparently swung open Aadil’s car door after calling from outside the house. But as soon as the trapped family came out and began to dash in the direction of the car, a shell struck. Urba passed away instantly. According to Maria, Rameez also lost “extremely bloody blood” as a result of his injuries.
“And suddenly, Arusha couldn’t see Zain around”, says Maria. He staggered into a neighbor’s home about 100 meters (300 feet) away because he was hurt. He was just a body on the floor when Arusha rushed to see him. He, too, had died.
In the midst of sobs, Maria declares, “We don’t wish for our enemies what has happened to my sister and her family.”
Attacks on children during these kinds of conflicts between two countries, according to Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director.
“Indiscriminately striking civilian areas is a violation of international humanitarian law”, she says, speaking to Al Jazeera. They would constitute war crimes if such attacks were planned and carried out.
Shamim Ganai, a politician from Poonch, claims the destruction caused by the Pakistani shelling was a “naked dance of death.”
“We weren’t prepared for what we eventually came to experience. No steps were taken to evacuate the residents. He recalls that many people were simply running and carrying chickens and other items in their arms.
