A year on, Dhangri villagers remember terrorist plot that shook their lives

RAJOURI: On January 1, 2023, the village of Dhangri in Jammu and Kashmir faced down a brutal terror plot that saw five of its residents being shot dead by terrorists followed by two children losing their lives the next day to an improvised explosive device left behind by perpetrators of the attack. The tragic loss of life aside, the attack also led to several people being injured. Now, an year later, the villagers of Dhangri are remembering the victims of the attack and vowing to never let such a plot come to pass again. 

Dheeraj Sharma, the sarpanch of Dhangri was quoted by PTI as saying “We never dreamt of such an attack. Terrorists took benefit of our casual approach. Now we have taken counter measures and are determined to frustrate the nefarious designs of enemy forces.”

According to a report by PTI, these measures include the deployment of a company of the Central Reserve Police Force alongside the existing village defence guards (VDGs). 

Thus far, Indian security forces have not only killed a few of the Pakistani terrorists, including the mastermind of the attack, in two separate encounters in Rajouri but have also nabbed two terrorist associates from the Gursai village in Poonch's Mendhar. 

Saroj Bala, a widow who lost both her sons due to the attack, however, said that villagers are still “waiting for justice” and that the investigating authorities are yet to reach any conclusion. “Why was the attack carried out on our houses for no fault of ours? Why were our innocent family members killed brutally? Why was the IED placed in front of my house?” asked Bala. 

She was also quoted by PTI as claiming that the facilitators of the attack in the area are yet to identified. Furthermore, she raised a demand for a memorial to be built, commemorating the lives of those who died in the terror attack and the subsequent bomb blast. 

Shashi Bala, a relative of the widow Saroj Bala said that while the people of the village are brave, there is little denying the fact that fear still exists within them due to the attack. “Dhangri was just another village for us where our relatives reside but now Dhangri is the name of an incident which connects with killings of innocent civilians, including children,” she was quoted as saying by PTI.