Lives On Hold In India's Border Villages With Pakistan

Fearing escalation, many in Sainth village in the Jammu district near India’s tense border with Pakistan have moved to safer places inland.

Transcript

00:00Along the Chennab River in Sainth, a village on India's border with Pakistan, daily life

00:13unfolds under the shadow of conflict. Tensions have spiked since the April 22nd attack in

00:19Jammu and Kashmir, with India blaming Pakistan and both countries exchanging strong words.

00:24Vikram Singh, a Sainth resident said, children are scared, the elderly are scared, everyone

00:33is living in fear.

00:34Vikram, who lived through the 1999 Kargil war, says the fear is returned.

01:01Science headman Suktev Kumar says many villagers have moved away.

01:15We have built our own residence in a different place.

01:22We have built those people, the rest of us are there.

01:26We have also seen it in the 70s.

01:30I've seen it in the 90s.

01:33But I've seen it in the 99s.

01:37But we are there.

01:39And when we get there, we are going to meet each other with the army.

01:43We are not going.

01:45We are not going.

01:46We are saying that we are there.

01:49We will go where we will.

01:52We will go where we will.

01:53We will go where we will.

01:54We will go where we will.

01:55Kumar adds, some have built homes elsewhere, but others remain here.

02:00In nearby Treva, people are preparing for the worse, clearing bunkers and checking emergency

02:05plans.

02:07Treva resident Balbir Kaur said there have been many casualties here in the past due to shelling.

02:13Older residents like Dwarka Das have seen it all before.

02:31He said, during earlier conflicts, we fled to shelters.

02:35We will do the same again if needed.

02:38As Global Pass urge peace, life on the border goes on, uncertain, tense, and quietly brave.