Shah reaches out to people affected by Pak shelling in J-K's Poonch, says package will be announced soon

Poonch: Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Friday to meet the victims of cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops earlier this month.

This is Shah’s first visit to the Union Territory after Operation Sindoor.

Shah said that that a package would soon be announced by the Centre for damaged homes, businesses, and religious sites.

Soon after his arrival in Poonch, Shah visited Gurudwara Singh Sabha, which was damaged in the Pakistani shelling. He also visited other such places in the shelling-hit areas and interacted with the people.

During his visit, Shah met residents and families who lost loved ones and suffered extensive damage to their properties in the shelling.

Flanked by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Delhi Minister Majinder Singh Sirsa, Shah, who is on a two-day visit to the Jammu region, visited shelling-hit places in the town. He was greeted with the slogan 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. Shah also met the affected shopkeepers.

Addressing people in Poonch, Shah said that Pakistan committed a “highly condemnable act” by carrying out intense shelling in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Poonch, and asserted that India responded by precisely targeting terror infrastructure across the border without harming any civilians.

Calling the recent shelling “the worst in Poonch since Independence,” Shah said civilian homes, temples, gurudwaras, and mosques were targeted by Pakistan. “This is a highly condemnable act. Pakistan used civilians as human shields. Only after this provocation, our forces responded with strength and precision,” he said.

Shah said that a package would soon be introduced by the Centre for damaged homes, businesses, and religious sites.

He arrived in Jammu on Thursday, his third visit to Jammu and Kashmir since April 6. The Union home minister chaired a high-level meeting here on Thursday night to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and arrangements for the annual Amarnath Yatra, officials said.

Poonch witnessed heightened artillery and mortar shelling after India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

A wave of artillery shelling, missiles, and drone strikes by Pakistan killed 28 people — 14 in the Poonch district alone — and injured more than 70 between May 7 and 10 across Jammu and Kashmir.

Thousands were forced to leave their homes near the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border to seek refuge in government-run relief camps.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the military confrontation after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.