Srinagar/Jammu, May 8: Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan, authorities on Thursday suspended the ‘Gandola’ cable car service in Gulmarg, and also declared the resort out of bounds for tourists because of its proximity to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that 13 people have been killed and 59 injured in the Pakistani mortar shelling across the LoC during the last two days. The MEA statement said all the 13 people killed in Pakistan shelling were killed in Poonch district, while 44 out of 59 injured people also belong to Poonch district. Uri sector in Baramulla district and Karnah sector in Kupwara district of the Valley, in addition to Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu division, have been the worst affected by Pakistani mortar shelling on the civilian population during the last two days. Those killed in the Pakistan shelling in Poonch included a soldier.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement said, “During the night of 07-08 May 2025, Pakistan Army posts resorted to unprovoked fire using Small Arms and Artillery Guns across the LoC in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor areas in J&K. Indian Army responded proportionately,” the statement mentioned. Army’s Nagrota headquartered White Knight Corps said on X, “GOC and all ranks of #WhiteKnightCorps salute the supreme sacrifice of L/Nk Dinesh Kumar of 5 Fd Regt, who laid down his life on 07 May 25 during Pakistan Army shelling. We also stand in solidarity with all victims of the targeted attacks on innocent civilians in #Poonch Sector.”

The J&K administration has started shifting people from vulnerable areas along the LoC to safer places as tensions between the two countries reached a new high. District hospitals in Poonch and Baramulla have received a large number of injured civilians, and special arrangements have been made at the government medical college hospital in Jammu to treat people needing specialised treatment.

All schools, colleges and other educational institutions have been closed in Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Samba, Kathua and Baramulla, Kupwara, Awantipora and Gurez areas. The Air Force has taken over Srinagar airport, and all civilian flight operations have been suspended till May 10. The Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes at nine terror sites in Pakistan on Wednesday. The MoD statement said that these precision strikes were carried out at terror sites -- Shawai Nallah Camp, Muzaffarabad (PoK); Muridke (Pakistan); Sarjal camp, Sialkot (Pakistan); Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala (Bhimber, PoK); Markaz Abbas, Kotli (PoK); Mehmoona Joya camp, Sialkot (Pakistan); Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur (Pakistan); Syedna Bilal camp, Muzaffarabad (PoK); and Maskar Raheel Shahid Gulpur Camp, Kotli (PoK).

No military installation of Pakistan was targeted in Wednesday’s strikes by the Indian armed forces, as the strikes were non-escalatory and were carried out without crossing the LoC, India has said categorically. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave operational freedom to the armed forces to avenge the killing of 26 civilians, including 25 tourists and a local, by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists sponsored and aided by Pakistan in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam on April 22.

The entire country was outraged by the cowardly act of terrorists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his first reaction to Pahalgam killings that the terrorists, their handlers and backers would he chased and hunted down to the ends of the earth. India announced a slew of measures against Pakistan, including the deportation of its nationals from Indian soil, closing of Attari-Wagah border crossing, throwing the Indus Water Treaty into abeyance, closing its airspace for Pakistani commercial flights and cancellation of all trade and cultural exchanges with Pakistan.

On Wednesday, India also closed the Kartarpur border crossing point on the international border in Punjab. The decision to give operational freedom to the armed forces came after the PM had a series of meetings with the defence minister, national security advisor, chief of defence staff (CDS), and chiefs of the army, navy and the Air Force.

(IANS)

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