An uneasy calm descended on villages along the Pakistan side of contested Kashmir on Sunday as families returned to their beds, though they made sure to restock their bunkers.
More than 60 lives were lost in four days of fierce fighting between arch-rivals Pakistan and India before a U.S.-brokered cease-fire was announced on Saturday.
At the heart of the violence is Kashmir, a mountainous, Muslim-majority region divided between the two countries but claimed by both, where the heaviest casualties often occur.
Along the heavily militarized Line of Control (LoC) – the de facto border – families, exhausted by decades of sporadic gunfire, cautiously returned home for now.
"I have absolutely no faith in India; I believe it will strike again. For people living in this area, it's crucial to build protective bunkers near their homes," said Kala Khan, a resident of Chakothi which overlooks the Neelum River that separates the two sides and from where they can see Indian military posts.
His eight-member family sheltered through the night and parts of the day under the 20-inch-thick concrete roofs of two bunkers.
"Whenever there was Indian shelling, I would take my family into it," he said of the past few days.
"We've stored mattresses, flour, rice, other food supplies, and even some valuable belongings in there."
According to an administrative officer in the region, more than a thousand bunkers have been built along the LoC, around a third by the government, to protect civilians from Indian shelling.
Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir, and India has long battled an insurgency on its side by militant groups fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing the militants, including an attack on tourists in April which sparked the latest conflict.
Pakistan said it was not involved and called for an independent investigation.
Limited firing overnight between Saturday and Sunday made some families hesitant to return to their homes on the LoC.
In Chakothi, nestled among lush green mountains, surrounded by an abundance of walnut trees at the foothills, half of the 300 shops were closed and few people ventured onto the streets.
"I've been living on the LoC for 50 years. cease-fires are announced, but after a few days the firing starts again," said Muhammad Munir, a 53-year-old government employee in Chakothi.
It is the poor who suffer most from the endless uncertainty and hunt for safety along the LoC, he said, adding: "There's no guarantee that this latest cease-fire will hold – we're certain of that."
When clashes broke out, Kashif Minhas, 25, a construction worker in Chakothi, desperately searched for a vehicle to move his wife and three children away from the fighting.
"I had to walk several kilometres before finally getting one and moving my family," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"In my view, the current cease-fire between India and Pakistan is just a formality. There's still a risk of renewed firing, and if it happens again, I'll move my family out once more."
A senior administrative officer stationed in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was struck by an Indian missile killing three people, told AFP there had been no reports of firing since Sunday morning.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, hundreds of thousands of people who had evacuated also began to cautiously return home after heavy Pakistani shelling – many expressing the same fears as on the Pakistani side.
The four-day conflict struck deep into both countries, reaching major cities for the first time in decades – with the majority of deaths in Pakistan, and almost all civilians.
Chakothi taxi driver Muhammad Akhlaq said the cease-fire was "no guarantee of lasting peace".
"I have serious doubts about it because the core issue that fuels hostility between the two countries still remains unresolved – and that issue is Kashmir," said the 56-year-old.
