People in some border villages of Ferozepur district in Punjab have begun moving to safer areas amid soaring tensions between India and Pakistan.
Other villagers near the International Border (IB) with Pakistan in Amritsar and Tarn Taran border districts, however, exuded a sense of calmness with people going about with routine work.
Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including the Jaish-e-Mohammed stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.
Meanwhile, several residents in Amritsar and Batala resorted to panic buying of grocery items like pulses, cooking oil, wheat flour, sugar, and salt.
People were seen queuing up at departmental stores and grocery shops for bulk buying.
Many people lined up at fuel pumps in Amritsar.
Villagers in Ferozepur said they have begun shifting their belongings even though there has been no official evacuation orders from the Border Security Force, Indian Army, or any government agency so far.
They said the decision to move, especially women and children, was their own.
Tendi Wala, Kalu Wala, Gatti Rajo Ke, Jhugge Hazara, Navi Gatti Rajo Ke, Gatti Rahime Ke, Chandiwala, Basti Bhanewali, Jallo Ke were among the villages from where people were leaving.
Kakku Singh, 63, a native of the Babmha Haji village in the Mamdot area, said that he had come to meet his two daughters who had been married in Kalu Wala - a village surrounded by the Sutlej river from three sides and Pakistan on the fourth.
"When I heard the news about India's action in the morning, I was worried about my daughter and their families. I have come here not only to meet them but also ensure that they go to my village till the time the situation becomes normal," said Kakku Singh.
Pachho Bai, 58, from Tendi Wala village, who was seen packing the clothes along with her daughter-in-law, said that she felt concerned because their house is situated just 2 km away from the IB.
"We are six members in the family. My husband and my son are away at work but we are planning to move soon to the house of a relative," she said.
Villagers were seen carrying their beds, coolers, washing machines, fridge, food grain containers on tractor trolleys to their relatives.
Former Punjab chief minister and BJP leader Amarinder Singh hailed the Indian strikes on terror camps.
"The country had made it categorically clear that it will not let those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack go unpunished," he said in a statement.
"They have been punished as has been admitted by the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, who though escaped himself, lost several members of his family," he said.
"Our target was the terrorist training camps and we have hit them hard and that is it," he added.
Meanwhile, there were many villagers who despite the tense situation between the two neighbouring nations, exhibited high morale. Surjeet Singh from Tendi Wala village said he is proud of the Indian Army.
Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma Wednesday said that there is no reason for panic in the district, as yet.
She said neither the army nor the district administration has issued any directive to evacuate border villages and assured that the entire administration is fully alert and prepared.
In border villages in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, there was no rush to move to a safer place.
Gurmeet Singh, a native of the border village Chinna Bidhi Chand in Tarn Taran, said there was no panic in the village. Children were at their homes due to the school closure.
Sucha Singh, who lives in the border village Naushera Dhalla in Tarn Taran, said it was business as usual with people busy with their everyday work and farmers in their fields. No government official has asked them to leave their homes or move to safer places, he said.
"There is peace in the village," said another villager from Tarn Taran.
Border villages of Attari, Mahawa, Pul Mohra and Bikhwind in Amritsar district also appeared calm.
In Attari, a villager said they were getting calls from relatives from other places to know about the situation. They were not scared at all, he said.
However, farmers who have agricultural land beyond the barbed fencing were not allowed to go to their fields as gates remained shut at all the Indo-Pakistan borders of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.
The Amritsar international airport has been closed and the director of the airport communicated in writing that all commercial, civil domestic and international flight operations are suspended till 5.30 am on May 10.
All educational institutions remained shut on the order of the Deputy Commissioner in Amritsar.
The military strikes, code-named Operation Sindoor, were conducted early Wednesday two weeks after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in a terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
