There has been no gunfire, no alert sirens and no fighter jets dropping bombs. It is not war time yet but tens of thousands of villagers in Punjab's border belt with Pakistan are already experiencing a war-like situation.
Over 400,000 people in Punjab's border belt, comprising Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Fazilka districts, have been evacuated from their homes to "safer areas".
Residents of nearly 1,000 villages in these districts have been ordered by the authorities to evacuate following escalation of tension between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan after the Army carried out surgical strikes at the Line of Control (LoC) on Thursday night.
Punjab shares a 553-km international border with Pakistan. The entire border is marked by an electrified barbed wire fence.
A Hint of Panic Among the Villagers
Since most village residents are from farming families, they are worried that their standing paddy crop, which is ready for harvest, could be affected if it was not harvested on time.
We loaded many of our belongings and household articles on our tractor trolley. We have not yet decided where we will go. But we have to move out. The standing crop in our fields has to be harvested within the next 10 days. We hope this situation eases out soon.Sardul Singh, farmer from Amritsar district
"There is nothing to panic about. The evacuation is being done as a preventive measure. Arrangements are being made to accommodate the evacuated people," Isha Kalia, deputy commissioner of Fazilka district in southwest Punjab, said.
Amritsar, which is only 30km from the international border, too seemed to be prepared for any eventuality, including war.
But villagers said that there was some panic and anxiety among them.
“Old timers have been through the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. Those days were bad. But Punjabis have always faced wars valiantly. For the newer generation, who have not seen wars, the evacuation is a new thing. Many youngsters are worried about what will happen,” Waryam Singh of Ferozepur district, who is 70-plus and lived through the 1965 and 1971 wars, told IANS.
Help Pours In As People Complain of Mismanagement and Chaos
With arrangements to accommodate hundreds of people at each of the 45 relief camps having to be made within a few hours, the evacuated people complained of mismanagement and chaos.
The villagers who have been evacuated were headed either to the homes of relatives and friends in "safer zones" or opted for the camps organized by the district authorities.
We got the evacuation orders only on Thursday afternoon. It takes time to make arrangements. The schools were closed down around that time . We are working round-the-clock.An official in Ferozepur district
Hospitals in the border districts have been asked to keep some beds in emergency wards vacant for any contingency. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered shutting down of all schools falling within a distance of 10 km from the International Border. Leaves of all police personnel, medical services staff and others responsible for emergency services have been cancelled.
Cots and beddings were arranged and kept at government school buildings, community centres and marriage halls. Gurdwaras and social organizations chipped in in the last 12 hours to arrange food and water for the displaced people.
Evacuation Took Place Immediately
In some of the border villages which are located across rivers, Border Security Force (BSF) and army personnel could be seen ferrying people, including children and the elderly, and their belongings to safer areas on Thursday and Friday.
Along all roads and paths in the border areas, any mode of transport available — be it tractor trolleys, trucks, buses, private cars, horse- and cattle-driven carriages and other vehicles — was being used by the people to move out with their belongings. The authorities also arranged buses at some places to carry people.
Army convoys, with artillery, moved towards the border with Pakistan on Thursday and Friday.
(Published in arrangement with IANS.)
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