Jammu district magistrate PK Tripathi said people have started returning to their villages and farming activity had resumed in a big way.

Tripathi said though fear was still staking the villagers but the situation was under control. He expressed the hope that normalcy would be restored soon. Border Security Force (BSF) officials also said the situation in border areas was fast becoming normal they said.

"About 15 days back Pakistan rangers were firing more than 5000 rounds daily, now this number has decreased to only 200 to 300 rounds,'' a BSF official said. However, firing still continues in these border areas.

Officials maintain that the firing is usual and not intense. ``This is routine firing and there is nothing to worry in such a situation. This firing caused no hurdle infarming or other activities.'' Villagers also said that with decrease in firing from across the border, the situation was quite favourable for farming. ``Though firing from across the border is a routine affair during the Kargil conflict it had increased several folds, making our lives miserable,'' said a villager of Suchetgarh, a border village hardly 500 yards from the international border.

The increasing tension border and heavy deployment of troops on both sides of the border forced the villagers to shift their belongings to safer places but they themselves stayed put.

However, they could not cultivate their fields due to the curfew-like situation. No movement was allowed in these areas at night, the villagers said. ``Although during the daytime, there was no declared curfew but our movements are restricted and as a result our paddy crop could not be cultivated on time," said a farmer. ``But now heavy rains have become a blessing in disguise and helping our paddy fields,'' he added. The Kargilconflict in May intensified firing between the Indian and Pakistani militaries and a large number of villages along the Indo-Pak borders were vacated as a precautionary measure. Most villagers that were forced to vacate their villages depended on farming for their livelihood.