Several residents of Poonch raised their demand for bunkers to a delegation of the Trinamool Congress, comprising four MPs and a state minister who are visiting Kashmir to take stock of the situation on ground.
“We met the families of those killed in Pak shelling during the war. The families are grieving,” said Derek O’Brien, Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha. “We will submit a report to the Bengal chief minister and our party chief Mamata Banerjee on the ground situation and how Bengal can cooperate with the Kashmir government.”
The Rajya Sabha MP said Thursday was a difficult and emotional day for all the members.
The report is likely to be submitted next Tuesday.
Apart from O’Brien the delegation includes Rajya Sabha MPs Sagorika Ghose, Nadimul Haque, Mamata Thakur and Bengal minister Manas Bhunya.
The team made its first stop at the home of retired army officer Amarjeet Singh who was killed during the shelling on the morning of May 8.
The 52-year old retired army officer was in a room on the first floor when a shell hit their home. The family was preparing to move out from the locality to a safer location when they were hit. An uncle of Amarjeet who was in another room on the same floor also sustained injuries.
“We met the father, wife and the two children left behind. This is a real tragedy,” said Bhunya. “We are here to take stock of the situation, meet the bereaved families, offer our condolences and assure them their cries will not go unheard.
The team also visited the Christ School which was hit by shelling and claimed the lives of twin siblings Zayn Ali and Zoya. The twins were fleeing, holding the hands of their father Ramees Khan, when a shell fell close to them.
“The father has not been told about the children’s death yet,” said O’Brien.
A third student from the school Vihan Bhargava was killed near a petrol pump in the locality. The bunker at the school, which was not spared by Pakistani shelling, had served as a shelter for many of the local residents.
Most of the residents in the area have said on different occasions that the intensity of the shelling from across the border was something they had never experienced earlier.
Poonch close to the border has been at the receiving end whenever tension has escalated between India and Pakistan.
The team also went to the Zia-ul-Uloom madrasa, where a teacher Qari Mohammad Iqbal killed in the shelling.
Several television news channels described Qari as a terrorist.
“That was absolutely rubbish,” said O’Brien.
The team will be in Rajouri on Friday to meet the families of the victims in the district.