AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Last weekend, President Trump announced a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. It came after escalating clashes between the two countries, which was some of the most intense fighting in South Asia in decades. Now families in some of the worst affected areas are asking themselves, are their homes safe anymore? NPR's Omkar Khandekar reports from Poonch in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir.
MUSHTAQ AHMED: (Non-English language spoken).
OMKAR KHANDEKAR, BYLINE: Driver Mushtaq Ahmed calls for passengers to ride his bus at a marketplace. He needs to make up for last week, when fighting between India and Pakistan emptied this border town. Not only did he have no customers, he says...
AHMED: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: "I had to buy wheat flour at twice the price because shopkeepers wanted to make an extra buck off the crisis." But days after the firing ended, he says most of his regular customers haven't come back.
AHMED: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: He says they are scared to be in this town, Poonch. India's disputed border with Pakistan is a little more than five miles from here. So when the two countries fought each other last week, this town was pummeled. At least 17 Indian civilians were killed during the fighting. Most of them were from Poonch. Mohammad Akbar says he's just returned but not with all his family. When the fighting broke out, his kids thought that all those loud bangs and explosions were a practice drill.
MOHAMMAD AKBAR: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: But as the fighting continued, his 10-year-old son realized this was real. Akbar says his family spent the night praying.
AKBAR: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: The next day, Akbar says they scrammed to a village far away from the border. He says his son is still in that village. He's in shock. He refuses to eat. Other residents say they had no choice but to stay...
(SOUNDBITE OF SHEEP BLEATING)
KHANDEKAR: ...Like the folks in Khari Karmara. It's right on the India-Pakistan disputed border. Many people here raise livestock. They did not want to abandon them, so more than a dozen people crammed into a 10-by-10 concrete bunker, says resident Tajamul Hussain. For three days, they cooked, slept and prayed together. And they fed and comforted their animals.
TAJAMUL HUSSAIN: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: He says the shelling was so loud, even the bunker was trembling. It split trees in half, left craters in the ground. Hussain's wife says her animals were terrified. She says her buffalo even stopped giving milk for two days. Hussain says other folks did flee to camps for displaced people...
(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)
KHANDEKAR: ...Like 140 miles down south, where authorities have turned an ashram by a highway into a rescue camp. Dozens of mattresses are set up on the floor of two shabby halls. One is for women. The other is for men, including 22-year-old Sachin Narwalia. He's been here for a week.
SACHIN NARWALIA: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: He says Pakistan brought the war upon itself. He is referring to the killing of 26 civilians in India-administered Kashmir last month. India blamed Pakistan for being behind the attack and launched airstrikes. Pakistan said it wasn't involved and countered with its own airstrikes.
NARWALIA: (Non-English language spoken).
KHANDEKAR: But Narwalia says India should have hit Pakistan harder to teach them a lesson. And for that, he says he's willing to wait here as long as it takes.
Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, Poonch.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARC DE SOLEIL'S "THE THEIF IN MARRAKESH") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.