Kashmir's civilians caught in the crossfire

Residents on each side of the Line of Control endure shelling near their homes almost daily.

Fatehpur Thakiala, Pakistan-administered Kashmir - When the shells started to fall, Muhammad Nadeem had nowhere to hide.

"As soon as the shelling started, my family would flee down the mountain… but I have a very weak heart, I can't leave this place," says the 65-year-old farmer, a resident of the remote village of Tarkundi, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Tarkundi, located about 115km east of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, is right on the 740km-long Line of Control (LoC), the de-facto border between Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"A shell could still fall at any time," he told Al Jazeera, standing in his maize fields, about 300m from the LoC. "Our homes are made of mud and wood - they could be destroyed any day."

Tarkundi is in Nakyal sector, which has been at the centre of recent shelling between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, sparked by an August 6 attack on Indian troops which killed five soldiers in Poonch district. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Pakistan denies, and, since then, there has been a daily exchange of mainly mortar and small arms fire between the two armies across the LoC. Both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety, while Kashmiri separatists, both armed and political, demand that a1949 UN resolution calling for a plebiscite on Kashmir's fate be implemented.  

This problem exists because of one man.  Who as the Raji of Kashmir lived in fear of losing his political power and dithered on which country should gain full control over the region.  Instead  of choosing to align majority muslim Kashmir with Pakistan this fool took the easy way out and chose to divide Kashmir between India and Pakistan which has led to the continued conflict between India and Pakistan since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1947.