Srinagar, April 29 -- A 55-year-old man in a border village in Kashmir's Kupwara on Monday started cleaning an underground bunker which has been in neglect for over a decade. The bunker at Kandi village Tanghdar, in the neighbourhood of Mohammad Sayeed, was well kept in the days when shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC) was commonplace, a fear that has not crept up again in the minds of locals. As tensions continue to rise between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, 25 tourists and a local, and the slew of actions that followed from both nations, residents of these hamlets apprehend a return to the old days of unrest, when they often had to evacuate their homes in fear of shelling, or worse, clean up after it brought down a wall or two in the village. The locals clean up these bunkers with a fear in their minds that they will have to seek refuge there, even as they hope it does not turn to reality. "There is a sense of fear everywhere here. The villagers fear they will have to face shelling and firing if hostilities go further up," Sayeed said. "Earlier, at least people had bunkers. Now, there are one or two bunkers in every panchayat as the old ones were damaged in the 2005 earthquake. From the past four to five years, we had seen peace and villagers were even sowing seeds in their fields right across the LoC fence. The people are afraid of even going close to the fence," he said. He claims that Teetwal, the last Indian village in the area, was full of tourists before Pahalgam attack, and is now empty. "There is a sense of somberness everywhere... people don't want a return to the old days," Sayeed adds. These villages benefitted most by the India-Pakistan truce announced in 2021. After the agreement, many of these villages close to the LoC were opened to tourists. Kaman in Uri, Teetwal in Keran and Machil, in Kupwara, and Gurez were among the preferred tourist destinations. However, the developments over the past few days have undone that progress, at least in the people's minds. On Monday, Pakistan violated ceasefire for the fifth consecutive day, resorting to small-arms fire in Kupwara and Poonch. "Peace had returned in our areas. Agricultural activities were going on close to the LoC. If the ceasefire ends, we will again be on the frontline and will bear maximum burnt," said Nambla village's sarpanch. Nambla was one of the worst-hit villages in Uri in the late 1990s and early 2000s. "After our bunkers were damaged, we didn't feel it necessary to get new ones as peace had returned. We were using our bunkers for other things," he adds. Uri sector in north Kashmir's Baramulla district has always been the first to get affected in cross-border shelling. Villages such as Garkote, Nambla, Balkote, Silikote, Hatlanga, Shura, Choutali, Mayain, Siltandaki, Kamalkote and Salamabad were often targets. At times shells even hit the Uri town, which often forced villagers to migrate. In the past 25 years, dozens of civilians lost their lives, and their houses damaged in the shelling and firing. "The situation is peaceful, but fear is everywhere in these villages. We have seen destruction in the past, and don't want a repeat," said Zaffar Ali Ahmad, a resident of Garkote. Pakistani bunkers can be seen with a naked eye from this village....