Thousands chose to remain, as army evacuated villages along Punjab-Pakistan border. (File)
On Friday morning, a day after tens of thousands of people living near the border with Pakistan in Punjab were told to evacuate to safer places, about 40 per cent chose to remain, reluctant to leave their homes and farms with a harvest ready paddy crop.
The government has, as a precaution, ordered the evacuation of villages within 10 km of the border with Pakistan in both Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, after the Indian Army killed several terrorists in surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control on Thursday morning.
There are nearly 1000 villages in the six border districts of Punjab - Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepir, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Fazilka - from where people have been asked to evacuate to safer areas.
Some of the villagers who are being evacuated don't know where to go next.
"We loaded our tractor-trolley with what we could, but we haven't decided where we will go next. The standing crop in our fields has to be harvested in the next 10 days. We hope the situation improves," said Sardul Singh, a farmer from near Amritsar.
Others like Sandhu Singh of Dhanoa Kalan village are afraid of losing what they are being forced to leave behind.
"During the Kargil War we had to evacuate as the army laid mines all around our village. But when we left, our cattle and belongings were looted. So many people are scared to leave their homes this time," Sandhu Singh said.
The 553 km long border that Punjab shares with Pakistan is entirely fenced and electrified. Those villagers who have decided to leave will have to either stay with their relatives and friends, or take shelter in camps set up in schools.
Many gurdwaras have opened their doors to welcome displaced villagers and provide them with food and water.
Hundreds of villagers are also being cleared along a 15 km strip that runs along the border in Jammu and near the Line of Control further north in Kashmir.
"Our priority is to move women and children to government buildings, guest houses and marriage halls," said Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh.
Since news of India's surgical strikes on Thursday, there is fear that Pakistan could target civilian areas in retaliation. In Kashmir's Uri, where Pakistan based terrorists killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an army camp earlier this month, villagers are particularly concerned.
Uri resident Farooq recalls how a Pakistani mortar shell destroyed his home before the two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003.
Security forces remain on high alert at the border and the leaves of police, medical staff and emergency services personnel have been cancelled. Schools in border villages have been closed till further notice.