For them, it is a war waged by an enemy and they are condemned to live in perpetual fear of death. This sparsely populated high-altitude town has become one of the most dangerous places in the world. No corner is safe here as death looms large everywhere in the form of Pakistani shells, which can fall anywhere. Mornings no more bring fresh hopes while the nights are wrapped in miseries.

It is the only town in India where 400 families live in bunkers. Six hundred others are busy digging bunkers to live longer. The people are learning to live underground and accept bunkers as their second home as living in homes is becoming increasingly impossible.

Their fear is palpable -- every afternoon, a virtual hell is letloose by the Pakistani guns. They start pounding shells with a ferocious intensity, hitting innocent people, shops, schools and hospitals. It is generally continued till 7 pm. But, sometimes, even nights are also not spared. It has become routine though painful exercise for about 75 per cent of the 5,000-odd population that makes up Kargil town. They (who don't have bunkers) desert their homes and hearths every afternoon and return only next morning, spending night at any safer shelter around the town. ``Whenever we see a big white balloon in the sky, we know that today Pakistan will lob shells and we run out of the town to save our lives,'' says Ahmad Hasan, who has taken shelter in a distant village in the Suru Valley.

It might just be a coincidence but most of Kargilies link the balloon's sighting with Pakistani shelling. And not even once has it been proved wrong. Of a predominantly Shia following, Kargilies feel that it is their strong nationalist stances which has provoked the Pakistanis' ire.