Srinagar: Urba Fatima and Zain Ali were born five minutes apart on April 25, 2014. Fate ordained that they would die together too.
The lives of these 12-year-old twins from Jammu & Kashmir’s Poonch were tragically cut short in the early hours of May 7 as a result of shelling from Pakistan’s side during the conflict with India, post Operation Sindoor.
“They died within minutes of each other,” Urba and Zain’s maternal uncle Adil Pathan told The Indian Express.
The twins were among 27 Indians who were innocent victims of Pakistan’s indiscriminate firing in Jammu & Kashmir after India’s Armed forces destroyed nine terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK to avenge the deadly Pahalgam attack.
Urba and Zain’s father Rameez, a teacher at Government Higher Secondary School at Mandi in Poonch district, suffered grievous injuries and is undergoing treatment. Their mother Ursha Khan is completely devastated.
Poonch was the worst hit in Pakistan’s cross-border firing, with 16 people dying in the district.
The 47-year-old Rameez and his family, originally from Kalai village of Poonch, moved to a rented accommodation two months ago to ensure better education for their children, said Adil.
“The children were studying in Class 4 in Poonch’s Christ School and had just celebrated their 12th birthday,” he informed.
Early on May 7, he got an SOS call from the petrified twins, who asked him to take them away from the town.
“When I got to their rented accommodation at 6.30 am, there was heavy shelling. To save time, I called out to Ursha and her family and asked them to come out,” Adil told The Indian Express.
The twins and their father ran out, only to be caught in the shelling.
“Everyone was running for cover. I put all three in my vehicle and took them to the Poonch district hospital, where doctors declared the children dead,” Adil said.
Rameez was taken from the district hospital to the Government Medical College Hospital at Rajouri, and eventually to Jammu’s Government Medical College & Hospital for treatment.
His wife Ursha is living through a nightmare which none would wish even on his worst enemy.
Having laid her two children to rest, Ursha doesn’t even have the time to grieve as she has to attend to Rameez, who regained consciousness on May 10 but remains critical.
“Rameez still doesn’t know about the twins’ death. His condition is still serious – there’s a shrapnel in his liver. Whenever he asks, Ursha tells him that the kids are at their nani’s (grandmother’s) place,” Adil said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited Poonch on Monday to assess the damage caused by the Pakistani shelling.
“For the first time, even the old quarters of Jammu have been affected. We are now forced to contemplate building bunkers in the city — something previously unimaginable,” Omar said.
