Amritsar village residents move kids, women out

Families at Amritsar’s Daoke village, which is surrounded by Pakistan on three sides, on Wednesday started shifting women and children to safer places.

Residents said the move was necessitated by the tense situation along the India-Pakistan border as they might not have enough time to shift to another place if a war broke out.

A resident said in case of a war, the only road leading to the village was likely to come under heavy shelling, making their escape impossible.

Kashmir Singh (70), recalling the 1965 and 1971 Wars with Pakistan, said they were accustomed to such circumstances.

“As of now, the situation is still under control, but we would be shifting women and children to safer places,” he said, adding that the Border Security Force (BSF) and the police had not yet asked them to shift.

He said in case of a war, only men would stay put in the area to help the armed forces. Gurnam Singh, another resident, said the BSF had already prohibited the cultivation of the land falling between the barbed fence and the International Border.