Fear has gripped a large part of the ‘non-local’ workforce in Kashmir since the targeted killings of non-locals in the valley intensified in the last few days. Despite the significantly increased operations by security forces against Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorists, the trepidation amongst the non-locals have compelled them to leave the valley.
Many media reports have chronicled the testimony of many such non-locals who have either left or contemplating leaving Kashmir due to the recent spurt in the targeted killings in the valley.
According to Deccan Chronicle, Ravinder Kumar, a carpenter from Bihar, who come to the Valley every summer for the past two decades left for his hometown on Sunday (October 17) morning. “We had decided to leave by this time as Diwali is approaching and we want to celebrate it with our families back home. The local people have been very good to us, but it is true that all of us are filled with fear after the killing of two non-local street vendors and a carpenter,” he said.
“I have decided to leave early. I think I must leave the moment the work is complete. It may take two or three more days,” said one Ravichandran, a false ceiling worker, who came to Kashmir in March to earn his livehood but returned home by mid-November.
J&K: A group of migrant workers leaves from Kashmir's Srinagar after recent incidents of targeted killings of non-Kashmiris by terrorists
— ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2021
"Situation is getting bad here. We're scared, we've children with us & hence going back to our hometown," says a migrant from Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/lcdUosH9eB
The New India Express quoted one Mohammad Shaheen, a West Bengal native who now lives in Delhi, said he has worked in Kashmir for the past three decades. “It is the first time that non-local street vendors and labourers are being targeted in J&K,” he said.
Describing the innate fear midst the non-locals in the valley due to the continuous attack on them, Shaheen said that the people who used to travel on the roads until 9 pm but now they want to return home latest by 6 in the evening. Adding that people won’t risk their lives to earn money, the WB native said that if more killings took place, non-locals might be forced to return to native places.
Speaking of the recent mass exodus from the valley, a cab driver in Srinagar said that in the last two weeks, around 30 cabs have been leaving for Jammu daily. “A fortnight back, only 10-15 cabs used to ply from Srinagar to Jammu daily,” he said, adding that many non-locals have left the Valley in the last fifteen days.
According to a Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation official quoted by Indian Express, a 48-seater bus leaves Srinagar for Jammu every day at 7.30 am, and roughly 40 passengers on the bus each day have been non-locals since last week.
Security forces intensify operations against Pakistan backed Islamic terrorists in J and K
The Jammu and Kashmir security agencies have, however, intensified operations against Pakistan backed Islamic terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Army troops maintained their operation against terrorists hidden in the deep forests of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch area on Sunday for the seventh day in a row.
TNIE quoted Jammu and Kashmir L-G Manoj Sinha as saying: “We’ll hunt down terrorists, their sympathisers and avenge innocent civilian’s blood”.
Targeted attacks on non-locals continue in Kashmir
The targeted killing of non-locals in the valley has continued unabated. On October 17, OpIndia reported how two poor non-Kashmiri people were killed in Kashmir by the terrorists. The first victim was identified as Arbind Kumar Sah from Banka district of Bihar who used to sell golgappa in Srinagar.
On October 5, Virendra Paswan, who hailed from Bhagalpur, Bihar, was shot dead in Kashmir by Islamic terrorists. Like Arvind, Virendra was also a street vendor who used to sell golgappa.
The second victim is Sagir Ahmad (58) from Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, who was shot in Pulwama. Ahmad was a carpenter by profession, and he was working in Jammu and Kashmir for the past one and half years.
On October 17, two labourers were killed while a third one was critically injured in the Kulgam district in South Kashmir when Islamic terrorists barged inside a house and fired upon the labourers who were staying there. The incident took place in Wanpoh area in Laram Gangipora in Kulgam.
The two deceased have been identified as Joginder Reshi Dev and Raja Reshi Dev, while the third victim Chunchun Reshi Dev has been admitted to GMC Anantnag for treatment after the attack.
Both assassinations are part of a wave of targeted killings of civilians in Jammu and Kashmir by Islamic terrorists, who are mostly targeting non-locals in order to instil fear and encourage them to return to their homes. Several civilians have been slain in the Valley in recent weeks, including Saturday’s tragedy. Among the victims of Islamic terrorism are prominent Kashmiri Pandit Makhan Lal Bindroo, school teachers Satinder Kaur and Deepak Chand, and others.
