Displaced from their home for over a week, villagers now want to know when they can go back home. This woman who has been staying with relatives tells ANI: "How long will we be displaced? Relatives can't keep us for very long."
P
anic gripped the residents of
villages in many border districts of Punjab, while a high alert was
sounded in Rajasthan and Gujarat on September 29, after
reports of escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan spread,
following a surgical strike by the Indian Army on terror launch pads in
Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
The authorities began evacuating people living in villages located
within 10 kilometres of the international border. Heads of local
gurdwaras and temples with the help of village sarpanches asked the
people to evacuate at the earliest.
The Border Security Force has put the international border on further alert after the Indian Army's surgical strike.
Punjab shares a 553 km border with Pakistan. It has six districts
which lie close to the international border. Some 135 villages lie very
close to the border.