MUZAFFARABAD: A woman was killed and nine others, including two police constables, were injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday as Indian troops resorted to “ruthless” mortar shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC), officials said.

The target on the last day of 2018 was Athmuqam — the otherwise rarely hit district headquarters of the picturesque Neelum Valley — located some 80km northeast of here.

“First they [Indians] fired some shells on Pakistan Army posts, but then suddenly they started pounding civilian properties with mortar shells,” said Akhtar Ayub, an Athmuqam-based disaster risk management officer.

Video clips shared by Athmuqam residents in WhatsApp groups showed people running to safety amid thunder of shelling and clouds of smoke.

Mr Ayub said Indian troops targeted the entire one-kilometre radius of Athmuqam, overlooked by Indian gun positions atop lofty mountains across the unmarked dividing line.

“The shelling was so heavy that it seemed the Indians were out to destroy every structure in our town,” said Abbas Mir, a schoolteacher, whose car’s windowpane was smashed by splinters from a shell.

Samiea Amir, a student at the AJK university’s Neelum campus, said she and her friends were on the third floor of their building when the indiscriminate shelling began.

“All of us rushed to the ground floor where we remained confined over the next three hours in a state of fear and anxiety,” she added.

Similar was the situation in all other educational institutions in the town, where students were trapped during the course of shelling, Mr Ayub said.

He said many people took refuge in the building of a hospital because of the absence of bunkers along their houses.

The shelling stopped after an hour but left a 27-year-old woman dead and nine others wounded, Mr Ayub said.

The deceased, identified as Asiya Bibi, was hit in the head by shrapnel from a mortar shell outside her house, he said. The mother of a toddler died on the spot.

The injured were identified as Sadaf Zia, 16, Misbah Jameel, 8, Kulsoom Shafqat, 18, Zarmeen Bibi, 20, Ansar Bibi, 35, and her son Khawaja Amir, 20, Rafaqat Khan, 35, and police constables Raja Zulqarnain, 36, and Malik Sajjad, 33. All of them were treated locally and were out of danger.

The last ceasefire violation in the valley was reported on October 30, when Indian troops had fired a few mortar shells.

An official said that all tourists in the valley were safe because most of them were away from Athmuqam.

According to Saeed Qureshi, a senior officer at the State Disaster Management Authority, Monday’s shelling pushed the death toll for 2018 to 28, including 19 men and nine women. The number of injured was 172, including 167 men and 80 women, he said.

He said 29 houses were damaged partially while three houses and a shop were destroyed due to shelling.

Apart from human losses, at least 13 cattle head had also perished in the violence.

UN urged to act

In separate statements, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider condemned the Indian shelling in the Neelum Valley and urged the United Nations to take notice of the situation.

Targeting civilian population without any provocation was not only a cowardly and condemnable act but also a serious violation of international laws, for which the Indian army must be held accountable by the international community, they said.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2019