Migrant workers in Kashmir to be moved to army camps after killings

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Vulnerable migrant workers in Kashmir will be moved to army and police camps for protection after several were killed by militants, the DGP of Jammu & Kashmir said on Sunday.

Vijay Kumar said he had instructed his officers to move workers after three labourers from the state of Bihar were shot in their rented accommodation on Sunday, two of whom died. “I have directed officers to shift the vulnerable urgently,” he told Reuters. It was not immediately clear how many of the tens of thousands of Indians from other states who are working in Kashmir would be affected, or if they would be confined in the camps or if the directive was compulsory.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s killings, or for an incident the previous day in which two other migrant workers were shot dead.  Pakistan has been supporting the militants in Kashmir and waging proxy war in the Indian state across LC. Though Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only provides diplomatic and moral backing to the Kashmiri people, the terrorists are trained acorss Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Analysts feel that the recent targeting of minorities including Kashmiri Pandits and migrant labourers is a desperate attempt by terrorist organisations to remain relevant in Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 and create communal divide.