Militants shoot, injure 2 non-locals in Kashmir’s Pulwama

Two non-locals were shot at and injured by unidentified militants in Litter area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Sunday.

A police official said the militants fired upon the duo in the Litter area of Pulwama. The injured, identified as Surinder and Dheeraj Dutta, both residents of Pathankot, Punjab, were rushed to a hospital.

He said one of them was a driver and another conductor of a poultry vehicle. A hospital official said that Surinder has a bullet injury on the left side of chest while Dheraj was hit on the leg.

On March 21, militants had shot at and injured a laborer from Bihar in the same district. In October last year, several non-locals labourers and street-vendors were killed by militants across Kashmir.

Earlier in October 2019, 11 non-locals, including truckers, were killed in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian districts. The attacks had created a wave of fear and anger with outsiders fleeing Kashmir.

The outside labourers constitute around 80% of the workforce required in constructions and development sectors in Kashmir.

Since the abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019, militants have intermittently targeted non-local labourers in Kashmir. Even last year in October members of the minority community too were targeted.

The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, which claimed responsibility for the previous killings have warned that everyone other than indigenous Kashmiris would be treated as “occupiers” if they purchase property in J&K.

Watch latest videos by DH here: