BJP urges migrant labourers to stay put

BJP urges migrant labourers to stay put

Amid surge in targeted attacks on non-locals, Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina on Monday requested the migrant labourers to stay back in the Valley as he said “one has to work together to defeat Pakistani conspiracies”.

His remarks come at a time when dozens of panic-stricken migrant labourers reached Jammu from the Valley to head to their native places in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and other parts of the country.

Lakhs of migrant labourers usually return from the Valley before the onset of winter to escape the freezing cold, but the recent killing of five labourers in different parts of Kashmir has triggered fear among them and some of them have started returning to their native places ahead of the schedule.

“Our brave Army, police and paramilitary forces carried out successful counter-terrorism operations and killed a large number of top commanders along with their associates. The stepped up anti-terrorism operations caused frustration and desperation among their ranks,” Raina said in a statement.

He said Pakistan, hatched a conspiracy to carry out selective killings, especially those of non-local businessmen and migrant labourers to trigger fear among the people and disturb peace in the region. “We will give a befitting reply to Pakistan. The BJP-led government has given a free hand to the security forces to deal with terrorism and the Valley is being cleared of terrorists,” Raina said.

The BJP leader requested the migrant labourers from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country not to leave the Valley.