They have been living with the constant fear of death for more than a month now, since Pakistani artillery guns, mortars and multi-barreled rocket launchers rained an estimated 16,000 shells of 160 mm, 130mm, 105 mm and 84 mm on 55 villages in this LoC sector out of which about 250 shells in Uri region remain unexploded.

A boy and girl of Danisydena village were blown into pieces after they threw some stones on an unexploded shell, thus taking the death toll of people killed in Uri region by live shelling to 14.

In another incident, a security force jawan suffered serious leg injuries after a live artillery shell left at his post by villagers in order to defuse it, went off.

Villagers have evacuated their houses due to the Pakistan shellings. Among them is little Shugufta Bano's house in Dara village. She is at present staying at her uncle's housewith her brother, sister and parents. A Pakistani artillery shell tore through their kitchen roof and still lies unexploded next to the fireplace underneath the rubbles.

``I cannot stop Shugufta from frequenting the house during the day as she is very attached to it. The kids don't realise the dangers of the unexploded shell and my repeated warnings are of no avail,'' said a harassed-looking Saleema Begum, as she calls out to her son, Majid, to keep away from the bomb in the kitchen.

Villagers feel the Army and the police are indifferent to their plight. ``The SP, Baramulla, and Army officers visited the area and took note of the unexploded shells a month back. But they have not shown their faces after that,'' says Sain Khan, as he points to an unexploded shell buried deep in another villager, Matoli's maize field in Gutlian village.

Unexploded shells, as Khan expertly points out, are recognised by the presence of a huge crater at the point of impact with the ground. ``Matoli's crop was ripe but he wasforbidden from entering his field. He used to cut two-three stalks of the ripe maize and then run back to deposit them far away from the field. He would then again gather courage and venture to cut some more stalks,'' said Khan.

Police constable Sitar Mohammad's six-member household in Dara village is virtually sleeping next to the bomb. One shell exploded on his walnut tree, charring half the branches and knocking off the roof of his house situated a 100 yards away. Another shell lies unexploded less than 10 m away from his doorstep.

Sher Ali's eight children sleep in a neighbour's house in Gutlian because a shell is buried in the gallery of their own house. Three shells lie in his fields. Same is the case with Baroli's house in Dara village while Zaibuudin of Dwaran village lives with a live shell outside his bedroom.

An unexploded shell, suspected to be of the Bofors equivalent of 155 mm, has a gaping two feet wide and 10 feet deep hole on the side of Dwaran road. In the affluent Garkote village,native place of State Finance Minister Mohammad Shafi Uri, three unexploded shells have forced five households to stay in Srinagar and Baramulla.

``The Police has tried to restrict movement and educate the people to keep away from the points where the unexploded artillery shells lie as children bear a major risk of casualty,'' said SDPO, Uri, Rafiq. But there is no estimate to the number of unexploded shells that lie buried in the higher grasslands, which were targeted for the Indian Army's pickets, and are used by the people for grazing cattles during summer months.

The Army and the Police have managed to explode only 25 shells, mainly in the forward areas along the LoC. But villages like Dachi, Daragnathia, Basgaran, Madian, Gowalta, Novarunda, Kamalkote and Zambarpattan are still under threat from at least five unexploded shells each.