“We have been told that this night is crucial and Pakistan can strike back. So it would not be safe to stay in the village, many have already left,” said Satnam Singh.
WHEN news of India’s surgical strikes and the Punjab government’s alert on evacuating villages within 10 km of the LoC started filtering in on Thursday afternoon, residents of Dauke started streaming out on two-wheelers, autorickshaws, cars and tractors. Some even started walking.
It didn’t matter that the Amritsar administration was yet to officially order any evacuation, or that alternate arrangements for their accommodation had not been set up.
“We have been told that this night is crucial and Pakistan can strike back. So it would not be safe to stay in the village, many have already left,” said Satnam Singh, husband of Amarjit Kaur, the sarpanch of Dauke, just 3 km away from the border.
His wife had already left, he said, adding that he had stayed back to guard their house from thieves.
This panic found echoes in other border villages of Punjab — in Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur.
“There are 80 villages under my constituency in Khemkaran within 10km of the border, eight of them virtually touch the fence. Here, the people are in panic. They are leaving their villages, with some going to the houses of their relatives or safer places. The administration has arranged for 10 camps in different parts of Tarn Taran district to accommodate them,” said Virsa Singh Valtoha, MLA.
WHEN news of India’s surgical strikes and the Punjab government’s alert on evacuating villages within 10 km of the LoC started filtering in on Thursday afternoon, residents of Dauke started streaming out on two-wheelers, autorickshaws, cars and tractors. Some even started walking.
It didn’t matter that the Amritsar administration was yet to officially order any evacuation, or that alternate arrangements for their accommodation had not been set up.
“We have been told that this night is crucial and Pakistan can strike back. So it would not be safe to stay in the village, many have already left,” said Satnam Singh, husband of Amarjit Kaur, the sarpanch of Dauke, just 3 km away from the border.
His wife had already left, he said, adding that he had stayed back to guard their house from thieves.
This panic found echoes in other border villages of Punjab — in Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur.
“There are 80 villages under my constituency in Khemkaran within 10km of the border, eight of them virtually touch the fence. Here, the people are in panic. They are leaving their villages, with some going to the houses of their relatives or safer places. The administration has arranged for 10 camps in different parts of Tarn Taran district to accommodate them,” said Virsa Singh Valtoha, MLA.
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