MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 15: Around 150 women staged a protest demonstration on Saturday in Neelum Valley against Indian shelling across the LoC and urged Islamabad for taking steps to halt the shelling in their area.

The women, led by Chand Bibi and Sarwar Jan, took out a procession at 9am from tehsil headquarters Athmuqam. They marched barefoot some seven kilometres on the main road up to a military installation where they presented their demands to the army’s local commanding officer, official sources said.

The picturesque Neelum Valley located along the Line of Control (LoC) in northeast of the AJK capital is the scene of destruction caused by Indian shelling which, officials say, is almost a regular occurrence for over a decade.

On their way to the military installation, the protesting women, who were accompanied by some 30 to 40 men as well, walked in front of the Indian guns installed in camouflaged bunkers across the Neelum River. The river serves as the LoC in most parts of the valley.

“Our main and urgent demand is that the (federal) government must take all possible steps to open the Neelum Valley road for traffic,” the 70-year-old Chand Bibi told the commanding officer, who came out of his office to receive the protesters.

“We have been left at the mercy of Indian shelling for the past 14 years. Our life is worst than that of animals,” complained the vocal lady to the army officer.

While narrating tales of the residents’ woes, she said:”We spent Eid in bunkers. Now we need peace because we are at the end of our tethers.”

“Pakistan should do something to stop the Indian shelling of civilian populations and open the roads,” she stressed.

The demonstrators threatened that if their demands were not met, they would either march towards Islamabad or cross the river (LoC) from Karen village.

Span of the Neelum River is too narrow in Karen village, located in the upper belt of the valley, and it is the same village from where the divided Kashmiri families had exchanged gifts some two years ago, in a rare gesture of sympathy by the Indian troops.

The military officer assured the demonstrators that the army would pass on their demands to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the federal government before March 1, and try its best to get them fulfilled.

Saturday’s demonstration was the second of its kind within a month in the valley. The first one, also led by Chand Bibi, was held on Jan 21. Around 60 women had participated in that protest.