Thousands of migrant workers in Kashmir moved to secure locations,
hundreds flee
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[October 18, 2021]
By Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian
authorities have moved thousands of migrant workers in Kashmir to safer
locations overnight, while hundreds have fled the Himalayan valley after
a wave of targeted killings, two security officials said on Monday.
Suspected militants have killed eleven civilians, including five migrant
workers, in Kashmir since early October despite a widespread security
crackdown in the heavily militarised region.
While the trigger for the latest wave of attacks was not immediately
clear, Kashmir has been the site of armed insurgency against New Delhi
for decades. Kashmir is claimed in full by India and Pakistan but ruled
in parts by both.
"We moved thousands of workers to secure places and are facilitating
their return home," a senior police official told Reuters, declining to
be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
In other areas, security forces had intensified patrolling to prevent
any militant activity, the official added.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Oct/18/images/ads/current/safety-tip-daily-3.png)
A government spokesman in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar declined to
comment on the movement of migrant workers.
The decision to move workers came after an attack on migrant labourers
from Bihar on Sunday. Police said that militants barged into a rented
room in Kashmir's Kulgam district and fired at them, leaving two dead
and one wounded.
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![](../images/101821PIX/news_r69.jpg)
Indian migrant workers wait inside a railway station to board trains
to their home states following attacks on migrant labourers by
suspected militants in Kashmir, on the outskirts of Srinagar October
18, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
Kashmir has gone through various bouts of violence
over the years, but the latest wave of attacks appears to be
targeted towards non-Kashmiris, including migrant workers, and
members of the minority Hindu and Sikh communities in the
Muslim-majority valley.
The hundreds of thousands of migrant workers currently in Kashmir
form the backbone of the region's workforce in agriculture and
construction.
Some of them said they now fear for their lives.
"We have seen worse times, but were never targeted. This time, we
are afraid," said 32-year old Mohammed Salam, originally from the
northern state of Bihar, who has worked in Kashmir for the last six
years.
Salam said police picked him up, along with others, from rented
accommodation on Sunday night and moved them to a protected area.
"We can't sit idle here," he said, "We will go back."
(Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Ana
Nicolaci da Costa)
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