Line of Control: How India and Pakistan share one of the world's most dangerous borders

Living along the LoC - the volatile India-Pakistan border - means life in a fragile limbo between war and peace.

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The recent escalation after the Pahalgam attack brought India and Pakistan to the brink once again. Shells rained down on both sides of the LoC, turning homes to rubble and lives into statistics. At least 16 people were reportedly killed on the Indian side, while Pakistan claims 40 civilian deaths, though it remains unclear how many were directly caused by the shelling.

"Families on the LoC are subjected to Indian and Pakistani whims and face the brunt of heated tensions," Anam Zakaria, a Pakistani writer based in Canada, told the BBC.

"Each time firing resumes many are thrust into bunkers, livestock and livelihood is lost, infrastructure - homes, hospitals, schools - is damaged. The vulnerability and volatility experienced has grave repercussions for their everyday lived reality," Ms Zakaria, author of a book on Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said.

India and Pakistan share a 3,323km (2,064-mile) border, including the 740km-long LoC; and the International Border (IB), spanning roughly 2,400km. The LoC began as the Ceasefire Line in 1949 after the first India-Pakistan war, and was renamed under the 1972 Simla Agreement.