Villagers in no hurry to return to their homes

After spending days in temporary homes and with relatives, people from both sides of the Indian and Pakistani border are sceptical about this weekend's ceasefire and in no hurry to return to their villages.

Indian cites like Jammu and Amritsar, which were spooked by the sounds of explosions after the truce was agreed, remained quieter than normal yesterday with many shops choosing to close and people preferring to stay indoors.

Indian and Pakistani authorities advised people who had left border areas not to return to frontline villages just yet.

A resident inspects his damaged house following cross-border shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) between Pakistan and India in the Jura sector of Neelum Valley, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP, REUTERS

After four days of fighting, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on Saturday under US pressure, but within hours explosions rang out in border towns and India accused Pakistan of violating the pact.

The arch rivals had been involved in the worst fighting in nearly three decades, firing missiles and drones at each other's military installations and killing almost 70 people.

Vartika, the daughter of an IAF soldier who died in an attack on Udhampur, salutes her father as his body is taken away on the day of his funeral at their home in Mahradasi village, Rajasthan, India. PHOTO: AFP, REUTERS

"URGENT APPEAL: Do not return to frontline villages. Lives are at risk. Unexploded munitions remain after Pakistani shelling," said a police notice in Indian Kashmir.

Hundreds of people were shifted to temporary homes, while others left to stay with relatives far from the border as fighting intensified earlier in the week.

"I want to go back to my village in Bihar. Do not want to go back there (to the border) and die," said Asha Devi, a 22-year- old farm labourer in the Akhnoor region, one of the areas worst affected by shelling in recent days.