Jammu/ Srinagar: Thousands of migrant workers who fled Kashmir along with their families queued up outside ticket counters at railway stations and bus stops in Jammu and Udhampur on Tuesday, while more were leaving the Valley as the targeted killing of non-locals by terrorists in recent weeks triggered a fresh exodus.
The opposition Congress hit out at the Modi government, alleging it has proved to be a "complete failure in controlling the violence and providing security in Kashmir", while the BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit said the administration must take "visibly concrete steps to ensure the safety of soft targets in Kashmir, including poor labourers and street vendors from other states". Officials said that security in and around the railway stations and bus stands in Jammu and Udhampur and in Kashmir has been beefed up as a precautionary measure as people have been arriving in large numbers desperate to leave.
Outside the Jammu railway station, men, women and children were waiting with their meagre belongings on the roadside in long queues without water
or shelter.
The exodus started after the killing of Sageer Ansari from Saharanpur (UP) in Pulwama on October 16 and that of Raja Reshi Dev and Joginder Rishi Dev - both from Bihar- in adjacent Kulgam on October 17 triggered panic among workers from other states, especially those working in the volatile south Kashmir region. Eleven civilians were killed in targeted attacks in Jammu and Kashmir this month alone.
Various parties from across the political spectrum have condemned the killings. On Tuesday, parties like the AAP, RPI (A) and the AIMIM demanded that India do not play with Pakistan in the T20 World Cup match, scheduled for October 24, in the wake
of the killings.
"If Pakistan does not stop its activities in the (J-K) Valley, then there has to be an aar paar ki ladaai (an all-out war to settle things once and for all). In J-K, attacks are taking place on migrant labourers, local Kashmiri Pandits are being targeted. It is Pakistan's ploy to not allow development
in the Valley," Union Minister and RPI (A) leader Ramdas Athawale said.