Malik Khadim’s lips tremble, his voice chokes and his head dips as he raises a hand to his grief-stricken face. It’s a vain effort to stem the tears gushing down his gaunt and weatherbeaten cheeks.

Many in the region are preparing for a possible military confrontation between India and Pakistan because of a terrorist attack two weeks ago.

India and Pakistan are exchanging heavy artillery fire across the line of control that divides Kashmir into Indian- and Pakistani-administered areas. The cross-border fighting began after India launched a major military operation with a series of airstrikes on nine sites,