Rajouri migration unabated

JAMMU, Oct 6: The repeated claims of the Jammu and Kashmir Government about bringing back the Kashmiri migrants to their native places in t...

JAMMU, Oct 6: The repeated claims of the Jammu and Kashmir Government about bringing back the Kashmiri migrants to their native places in the Valley notwithstanding, migration of people from various parts of the militancy-infested border district of Rajouri continues unabated. It has been triggered by the recent spurt in militancy.

More villagers have migrated to safer places from Mangota, Upper Mangota, Kalal and Uppar Kalal, besides Baljarala and Dalouri areas of Rajouri. More than 50 families are staying in a temple and the District Institute of Education and Training DIET in Jawahar Nagar area of the town.

Besides, many families were staying either in the houses of their relatives or in rented accommodation in the town and at other places, reports received from Rajouri said. A number of people have also migrated from the Thana Mandi area of the district While well informed sources in the district also confirmed migration by people from several areas, senior officials of the district administration denied it. Pointing out that the situation was well under control, officials said that some families, which had earlier migrated from their native villages at the instigation of some mischievous elements, had returned home.

Sources, however, said that people at many places in the far-off militancy infested areas had started shifting young members of their families to safer places, leaving behind only the aged at home. Though the administration had successfully persuaded some migrant families to return to their native places in the recent past, many others were not willing to oblige despite deployment of the security forces and the police in their respective areas, they added.

The main grievance of the migrants is that the deployment of security forces has been inadequate. As a result, the troops had been holding the long range and short range patrolling in the hilly terrains instead of being stationed at one place permanently. Master Tasadaq Hussain, a Congress leader of Dalouri, also demanded of the government to set up pickets of more security forces in the militancy infested areas to inculcate a sense of security in the local people.

Such was the fear among the villagers that many of the families, which had come to Rajouri town from the village of Swari after the killing of eight persons by the militants, were yet to return home. While some of them were staying in a temple in the Jawahar Nagar locality, others were putting up with their relatives in the town.

Substantiating it, sources said that the surviving members of the families of the victims of the Swari carnage yesterday held 8220;Rasam Kirya8221; of the deceased at a school in Jawahar Nagar and not in their respective houses in the village. These families also did not appear to be in a mood to return home due to the threat of the militants.

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The stepped up vigil and other security arrangements by the district administration in the wake of the recent spurt in militancy did not appear to have convinced the migrants about their safety in their native villages. Sources attribute this to the alleged links of a number of government employees with the militants operating in the border district.

In this connection, they referred to the arrest of an Intelligence official who had led a police party into a militants8217; trap in the Thana Mandi area over a month ago. The police party, which was held hostage by the militants, was later released unharmed at the intervention of some local villagers.

Misfire kills jawans

Four jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles who were reportedly killed in an encounter with militants on Saturday had actually been hit by a rocket targeted at a militant hideout, which had misfired.

Reports from Srinagar said the rocket launched by the security forces had misfired and hit eight jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles, who were part of a cordon group involved in an encounter with militants in Singhpora village of Beerwah in Central Kashmir.