Frightened at the prospect of another war between India and Pakistan, thousands of villagers living along the international border in Indian Punjab have begun moving to safer places.

According to a government assessment, nearly 200 border villages have been affected and in some instances, nearly the entire village population have abandoned their homes.

The migration from the border villages was apparently provoked when Indian and Pakistani troops advanced and set up defensive positions close to the international border.

Villagers say that this is the first time since the 1971 India-Pakistan War that they have witnessed troop deployment on such a massive scale.

As troops move in, civilians move out

For the past two weeks, the Defence Road, leading away from the India-Pakistan border in Khemkaran, Punjab, has been busier than a national highway.

Scores of villagers, alarmed by the ongoing hostilities in the Kargil area of Indian-administered Kashmir and the subsequent Indian Army deployment along the international border in Punjab, are shifting their women, children, household belongings and even livestock to safer places away from the border.

The township of Khemkaran, the largest in the area with a population of 16,000, now has less than 500 people.

This mass migration by border villagers is a phenomenon that has been replicated right down the length of the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.

Fear of war

Villagers are unwilling to endure another war

Villagers said that they are not willing to bear the consequences of yet another war with Pakistan. During the earlier wars - in 1965 and 1971 - they were the worst sufferers who lost their homes, stocked food and cattle.

A villager told the BBC that once a war breaks out, all the roads become crowded with military vehicles and there is then often no way out.

Though not visible during the day, villagers said they have seen the army moving armour, artillery and other military hardware close to the border during the night.

Soldiers manning roadblocks and pickets, and setting up communication lines, are common sights, and some villagers reported the sound of gunfire on the Pakistan side of the border during the night.

Authorities begin preparations

People are moving their belongings and even livestock

Despite repeated assurances by the Indian army and civilian authorities, the panic among the villagers is so intense that many have begun selling off food and livestock, that they are unable to carry.

Some residents said that border villages in Pakistan have also been vacated. They reported that daily sounds of the namaz or Islamic prayer can no longer be heard from them.

Though admitting the magnitude of the exodus from border villages, senior police officials in the city of Amritsar insist that the panic is largely unfounded.

However, civilian authorities responsible for administration at the border have themselves begun initiating moves to put in place a civil defence apparatus, required only during wartime.