Scared, but will stay put: Migrant labourers in Kashmir

Srinagar, October 18

Sanjay Kumar, like many migrant labourers in Kashmir, is scared following the killing of non-locals, but he says he is not going to leave as wages are high and local residents are kind.

Labourers from several parts of the country come to the Valley every year in early March for skilled and unskilled jobs such as masonry, carpentry, welding and farming, and go back home before the onset of winter in November.

Shankar Narayan (45) from Bihar says, “We are scared but we are not returning, at least not yet. We go back in the first week of November every year and that is how it will be this time too.”

“People have been helpful. When there was complete shutdown for five months in 2016, we were not harmed even though locals suffered a lot,” he said.

Riyaz Ahmad, a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh, has brought his entire family — wife and three kids — to Kashmir. "Life here is better than back home. Me and my wife get work regularly," Ahmad said. — PTI