Kashmiri Leader Demands Bunkers In All J&K Forward Areas

Expressing deep shock and grief over the death of a civilian in mortar shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir”s Kupwara district, former Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday appealed the Centre to sanction funds for immediate construction of underground bunkers in forwarding areas where bunkers have not been constructed. In a statement issued, Bukhari while echoing the concerns of former Legislators Raja Manzoor Khan and Javed Ahmad Michal, expressed solidarity with the bereaved family of Saleem Ahmed, a 60-year-old civilian, who was killed in the Tadd village of the Karnah sector in Kupwara district on Monday evening.

The former Legislators, while expressing sympathies to the family of another civilian who sustained the injury in the incident, prayed for his early recovery. “It is unfortunate that there is no let-up in shelling even during the winters, causing more worries to the civilian population living in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir,” they remarked. Referring to a Defence Ministry report indicating an increase in the incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019, Bukhari said that in view of the heightened cross-border shelling, the Centre must sanction and order speedy construction of concrete, underground bunkers for all the left out border areas in the Union Territory, especially in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts.