SRINAGAR: As non local truckers who had come to Kashmir from outside states to load apples were killed by the unknown persons believed to be militants, the Truckers and labourers have been asked to leave Shopian district of south Kashmir. The four militant attacks over the last 15 days on non-locals have left five dead in southern part of Kashmir.
According to local residents of Shopian, the police on Sunday asked the truckers to leave and did not allow other truck drivers, approaching the district from the Mughal road, to enter, News 18 reported.
The move comes after five non-locals were killed in last 15 days. Two truckers were killed and their apple-laden vehicles set ablaze after suspected militants fired at them on Thursday evening in Chitargam village of Shopian.
This was the fourth such incident this month in which suspected militants attacked non-Kashmiris in the southern region of the Valley.
The police have notified safe spots for truckers coming to Kashmir to ferry apples. “On Thursday, the police came and told us to leave without loading our consignment,” Sukhdev Singh, a driver from Punjab, told News18.
A number of trucks were parked at Batapora Bus Stand, Fruit Mandi Arhama, and in the main Shopian town, but the police came and asked them to leave, a local apple trader told News18.
“This step is being taken keeping in view the security of the truckers. After the recent attacks, there are reports that the militants might make other truckers a target,” a police told News 18 on condition of anonymity.
A top official in the civil administration said this is a security operation and the civil administration is just following it, News 18 reported.
The photograph used in this story is for representational use only.
