There are days when shells and bullets whiz past your head. And there are days when everything is quiet. One eye over the shoulder is the key to survival and retaliation.

Soldiers stand guard in Jaran Walan Gali, some 250 km from Jammu, on May 23, 2003. The photograph was taken a few days after the army announced it had destroyed 90 terrorist hideouts and killed over 60 militants in a counterinsurgency operation in southern Kashmir.

Photograph: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images