Post suspected militant attacks on non-local laborers, they are not ready to leave Kashmir. The state has increased the security measures around the areas where non-local laborers are primarily accommodated. However, the security grid in Kashmir is taking all the necessary measures to ensure that no attack on non-locals is repeated.
On Sunday evening, suspected militants attacked a non-local laborers’ tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway. In the attack, six non-local laborers and a local doctor were killed. Two days before this incident, another laborer from Bihar was shot dead by suspected militants in south Kashmir’s Shopian. However, it did not stop there. On Thursday morning, suspected militants shot at and injured a laborer from Uttar Pradesh in south Kashmir’s Tral. He received a gunshot injury to the arm.
This was the third attack on non-local laborers in Kashmir in the past week. In 2021, a spate of killings of migrant laborers in Kashmir had triggered widespread emigration from the region. Many non-local workers chose to leave the region out of uncertainty and fear, while many others chose to stay until the end of their work season. The same is happening this time.
“We are not scared. We are leaving because of the winter,” said a non-local worker from Bihar while waiting for his train at Srinagar’s railway station. “I’ll return after this season for work as usual.”
For years, people from outside have been coming to Kashmir for jobs that include painting, carpentry, farming, and many others. As the weather starts getting harsh and cold in the region, many of them flock back to their respective states, only to return with the arrival of spring. At bus stations and railway stations, the outsiders claimed to not know about the recent attacks on non-locals in Kashmir.
“We don’t see any problem here,” they said.
Ishtiyaq, an e-rickshaw driver from Srinagar, said that non-locals are not scared here after ferrying a few in his rickshaw recently. “One told me that even if they die here, they will not leave,” he said. “They said they were fine and nobody would do anything to them. They do not want to leave.”
After the back-to-back attacks, social media was abuzz with reports of non-local laborers leaving Kashmir out of fear.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), took to X and said, “After the barbaric attack at Sonamarg, there are reports that the local admin is pressurising non-local laborers to leave the valley immediately.”
She further added, “While I understand their obvious sense of panic, asking them to leave in this manner is not a solution. It will only create more difficulties and send a very bad message to the country. J&K recently witnessed peaceful, terror-free elections, and this knee-jerk reaction will only prove otherwise. It might also cause outrage against Kashmiris working and studying in other states.”
She requested the newly elected Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene. “At least give them enough time,” she wrote.
However, the Jammu and Kashmir police dismissed the claim as “false” and urged the public not to pay heed to such misinformation on social media.
The Kashmir Zone Police, quoting the Inspector General of Police, said, “Social media reports claiming the local administration has asked non-local workers to leave the valley are false. The Jammu and Kashmir Police is committed to ensuring security and fostering a safe environment for all individuals to pursue their livelihoods without fear or intimidation.”
It added, “The general public is advised not to pay heed to such false information on social media platforms.”
