PM Narendra Modi directs compensation for those displaced by Pakistan firing

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today directed that people displaced from border areas of Jammu and Kashmir because of Pakistani shelling should be suitably compensated.

The details of compensation would be announced in "due course," a PMO statement said here.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that people who have been displaced from the border villages of Jammu and Kashmir due to dastardly acts of shelling by Pakistan over the last few days, be suitably compensated," the statement said. Nearly 30,000 people have been displaced from border villages of Jammu and Kashmir due to one of the worst violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan since October 1. Pakistani troops targeted over 130 villages and 60 Border Out Posts on the intervening night of October 8 and 9 in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

Under fire from the opposition over escalating ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Modi had yesterday said India has responded to the aggression with courage and lamented public debate on the issue for political gains. "Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming. Our jawans have responded to the aggression with courage," Modi said at an election rally in Maharashtra.

On Wednesday, responding to questions from reporters on border situation Modi had said "everything will be fine soon."