A heart-wrenching tragedy unfolded on May 7 in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir when 12-year-old twins, Zain Ali and Urwa Fatima, were killed in cross-border shelling by Pakistani forces. The children, students of Christ School, were caught in the attack just as they were preparing to flee the area with their family amidst the escalating tension along the LoC, reported the News Minute.
At the Government Medical College and Hospital, their mother Urusa Khan lay in a state of trauma, unable to speak or eat, overwhelmed by the sudden and horrific loss. The children’s father, Rameez Khan, also sustained serious injuries from shell splinters and remains hospitalised, unaware of his children’s demise. He has been told they are staying with their grandparents – a fragile truth shielding him from heartbreak, temporarily.
The attack happened early in the morning. Around 1:15 am, Zain and Urwa had made a call to relatives, scared by the ongoing shelling and pleading to be rescued. Just hours later, when a relative arrived, the family was packed and ready to evacuate. As they stepped outside their home near Christ School, a shell exploded nearby. Urwa died on the spot, and Zain, found severely wounded a few houses away, succumbed to his injuries shortly after.
While the children’s last rites were performed in Poonch the same day, their father was later found bleeding and rushed to the hospital. The couple remains admitted.