Thakur Pur (Gurdaspur), September 30: As villages in the border states clear out for the fear of a retaliation from Pakistan a day after the Army conducted surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, police in Gurdaspur's Thakur Pur village have a dilemma.
Although the government has ordered villages within 10 km of the India-Pakistan border to be cleared, Thakur Pur's residents have refused to leave their homes, telling the police that they would not leave until “firing actually begins from across the border”.
Residents of some 100 villages in Dorangla, Behrampur, Dinanagar, Narot Jaimal Singh and Baimal blocks endured one of the longest nights of their lives on Thursday as they anxiously waited to hear sounds of gunfire rattle their peace. A night of hearing nothing however has made villagers change their minds about leaving.
Many who left on Thursday also returned, leaving the shelters especially designed to house the evacuees already wearing a deserted look.
Villagers reason that if a night like that could pass peacefully, there was nothing to fear. Some even drew parallels with the war of 1971. Jodh Singh, an ex-serviceman from the village, said the village could hear sounds of gunfire for nearly a week during the war.
“This time, apart from high decibel sounds being made by the administration, nothing much is happening. Yesterday night was the right time if the enemy wanted to attack us. That particular time period has passed peacefully and now we see no threat.”
Villagers' stubborn refusal to change their minds has left authorities floundering.
“On the first day yesterday, we managed to evacuate some people. But today everybody seems to be stubborn. All our efforts are turning out to be futile,” said an SP-rank officer.
Gurdaspur SSP Jasdeep Singh admitted that his force had trouble convincing people to leave.
“We are telling them that a strike is possible. However, they tell us that strike or no strike, they will not go anywhere,” he said.
Villagers of Thakur Pur are not alone in their thinking. Reports of people refusing to leave have come from other hamlets in the district, as well as those from neighbouring Pathankot.
Meanwhile, BSF has stopped farmers from moving across the wire fencing to till their lands, a task that until Thursday, 85 farmers from Thakur Pur, accompanied by BSF, would do each day.
“Since Thursday afternoon, we have locked the gate. We are not allowing anybody to cross over,” said the two jawans manning the post.
