Drones in the sky, blasts outside, Kashmir was on edge as Valley came under Pakistan fire

At first, she thought it was an earthquake. The house was shaking. But within a split second, there was a loud bang. “It just felt as if some huge plane had crashed down from the sky with an earth-shaking thud,” recalled Zoya Khan*, a mother of two young children from Srinagar’s uptown locality. “I just rushed out of my bed along with my kids.”

Around 5.45 am on Saturday, most of the residents in Srinagar and adjoining areas were jolted out of their sleep by a series of loud blasts.

Khan, who lives barely 10 km from the Srinagar international airport, said she also heard the hovering noise of jets. “Last night, when there was a drone attack, the sounds were low,” she said. “But today’s blasts were terrifying.”

Ever since India targeted alleged terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on May 7, Pakistan retaliated with a series of drone attacks along India’s western border. On Saturday at 5.25 pm, US President Donald Trump claimed that both sides had agreed to a ceasefire.

Besides intense cross-border shelling along the Line of Control and the international border, Pakistan’s response in the last two days also penetrated deep into the Kashmir Valley – a departure from its previous actions.

On Friday evening, a swarm of drones was seen along the skyline in Srinagar, Baramulla and Awantipora in the Valley. This was the first instance in the showdown that Pakistan had targeted sites as far as Srinagar and Pulwama.

Retired law professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain said Saturday’s blasts in Srinagar and other districts were reminiscent of the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999.

“During the 1965 and 1971 wars, there were aerial raids on Srinagar airport or other defence installations,” he recalled. “Unlike now when fighter jets can strike a target from a long distance, those days the jets had to fly over the targeted areas.”

‘Tiny flashes’

Growing up, 46-year-old Ishfaq Tantry had often heard his grandparents recount how his native town of Baramulla, cradled by lush green forests, had become a battleground after 1947 as the armies of the newly formed nations of India and Pakistan fought fiercely to claim Kashmir.

Those memories resurfaced vividly on the night of May 9, when Pakistani drones swarmed the skies of Baramulla town. “The thunderous roar of anti-aircraft guns jolted my family and we rushed downstairs. My children trembled with fear as nearby blasts rattled the windows,” recalled Tantry, an independent journalist.

Though there was a total blackout imposed across the district, Tantry took a peek outside. “I saw something surreal: tiny flashing lights darting across the moonlit sky, punctuated by booming sounds of gunfire,” he said.

Although Baramulla has seen its share of violence owing to the militancy that broke out in 1989, Tantry said, “the eerie drone invasion was unlike anything we had experienced before”.

The anxiety

The escalation of tension between India and Pakistan has bred anxiety across Jammu and Kashmir, with residents avoiding stepping out of homes, and stocking up on essential supplies and medicines.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has said there is no shortage of essential supplies or other necessary items like petrol or diesel, but residents were not taking any chances.

Owais Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar’s downtown locality, said he had been stocking up on baby food and diapers for his infant son. “We don’t really have a choice when it comes to babies,” said Ahmad, a private sector employee.

Retired government employee Javid Ahmad, from North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, had been trying to replenish his stock of rice – Kashmir’s staple food – ever since the Indian army carried out Operation Sindoor. “For the last three days, I have been knocking on the doors of paddy growers but nobody is selling,” Ahmad said.

Pharmacists in the Valley said the anxiety about an impending conflict was driving up demand. “Those who are aware about the ongoing situation between India and Pakistan are purchasing medicines in bulk,” said Zeeshan Bashir, a pharmacist in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

‘Let death come’

Even though many states other than Jammu and Kashmir have been impacted by Pakistan’s military response, the union territory’s Jammu region has borne the brunt of the India-Pakistan conflict.

More than 18 civilians, including children, have been killed due to the shelling by the Pakistani side in Poonch and Rajouri districts since May 7, according to government estimates.

On the morning of May 10, a senior bureaucrat posted in Rajouri, Raj Kumar Thapa, was killed when a Pakistani shell hit his home.

Besides the loss of lives, there has been considerable damage to the properties of civilians living along the Line of Control. Many of the border residents in districts like Kupwara and Baramulla in the Valley have left everything behind and fled to safer areas.

But not everyone could make it.

“I paid Rs 20,000 to a private cab driver to take my family to Srinagar,” said a resident in Tangdhar, Kupwara, who did not want to be named. “But I have stayed back with my ailing father who cannot move. If I have to die here, then let death come to me while taking care of my father.

*Names changed to protect identity.

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