India says LoC violations by Pak under close watch, control room opened in Srinagar

New Delhi: As Pakistan continued to open fire at border villages across the country, the defence officials of India reported that the Indian Army is closely monitoring the ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army. In Punjab and Kashmir, people residing in some border villages have started to move to safer areas as tensions between India and Pakistan escalated following Operation Sindoor.

ANI reported that Indian Army chief is constantly in touch with local formations on Pakistan Army actions there. 

The central government has given full operational freedom to the forces to give appropriate reply to the Pakistan Army’s use of artillery guns to target Indian civilians along the Line of Control. Pakistan has resorted to artillery shelling on civilian targets after Indian Army attacked nine terror camps including five in the Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir using precision guided special munitions. 

Meanwhile, the authorities have opened a central control room in Srinagar to monitor developments in the wake of missile strikes by India on nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"In view of the prevailing situation, a Joint Control Room is established at the District Emergency Operation Centre (DEOC), Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar under the overall supervision of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Srinagar," the local district magistrate said in an order.

He noted that the control room will operate round-the-clock and will serve as a centralised hub to facilitate interdepartmental coordination, monitor ongoing developments and ensure timely dissemination of information.

"It shall also act as a grievance redressal platform for the general public, enabling efficient resolution of issues arising in real time," the order said.

The room can be contacted to address public concerns, coordinate emergency services, and provide requisite support and assistance, it added.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government has asked all administrative secretaries and heads of departments not to sanction employees any leave except under exceptional circumstances.

People in panic
Residents of border villages of Ferozepur district in Punjab on India-Pakistan border have started to shift their belongings for moving to safer places. But the government, Border Security Force, Indian Army or any government agency are yet to issued an official evacuation order in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir authorities started evacuating civilians from the villages close to the International Border (IB) at Suchetgarh amid shelling from Pakistan.

However, farmers who have agricultural land beyond the barbed fencing were not allowed to go to their fields as gates remained shut at all the Indo-Pakistan borders of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.

The Amritsar international airport has been closed and the director of the airport communicated in writing that all commercial, civil domestic and international flight operations are suspended till 5.30 am on May 10. All educational institutions remained shut on the order of the Deputy Commissioner in Amritsar.

The military strikes, code-named Operation Sindoor, were conducted early Wednesday two weeks after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in a terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam.