300 labourers leave Valley day after Hizb call

Meanwhile, the labourers received a shot in the arm when Geelani virtually rebuffed the Hizb deadline and called upon the outfit not to meddle in the sensitive affair. The Hizb threat, however, still remains. Until the outfit verbally revokes its command, the labourers may find it difficult to stay in the Valley.

According to noted Kashmiri economist Nisar Ali, the current impasse involves a complex issue. “Over the years, they have become an inalienable part of the J-K economy. Three and a half lakh of them work in the region, sustaining the valley’s construction boom,” said Ali. He added that the Valley needed the services of migrant labour as “we are a labour shortage economy”.

Kashmir observers on the other hand say that the outfit’s call is rooted in the simmering paranoia about the long-term repercussions of migrant influx. With migrant labourers taking over almost all the construction-related work in the Valley, and even foraying into vending daily essentials from hand carts, there is widespread unease about their presence.

Besides, in a time of political turbulence when the state is grappling with the baggage of two decades of violence, a growing migrant presence has become enmeshed with the politics of the region. That is probably why separatist are playing on the public fear and linking the influx to the long term “Indian design” to change the demographics of J-K.