Tired of violence, Kashmiri families migrate to Jammu city

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 11

As the Valley remains on the boil for the last two months, hundreds of Kashmiri Muslim families have moved to Jammu to live in peace. Many students have joined crash courses in coaching centres as educational institutions continue to remain shut.

Jammu has become a second home for some well-off families from the Valley since a decade and most of them own a house here. As unrest continues, these families preferred to move to Jammu.

“We don’t know how long the unrest will continue, so we shifted to Jammu for a while as it had become difficult to breathe under restrictions and curfew in Kashmir,” said Mohammad Ashraf, a resident of Rainawari in Srinagar.

“We have a house at Bathindi where we stay during winter, but this time due to the turmoil in Kashmir, we had to come here during summer,” Ashraf added.

Some colonies have been developed in Jammu city and its outskirts in the last decade, where well-off families from Kashmir have invested and made their second home. This second home is not only an option for them during extreme winter, but also during the unrest, especially when the studies of their children are being affected.

As the schools and colleges remain closed in Kashmir for the last two months, people have sent their children to Jammu to complete their syllabus in coaching centres.

“Schools might be closed in Kashmir, but we have to appear in the board exams and there will be no excuse of the Kashmir unrest in the competitive exams. We cannot let our studies suffer due to the turmoil as it is a matter of our future and we cannot take it for granted,” said Nahid Zargar, a Class XII student, who has come to Jammu to complete her syllabus.

Coaching centres in Jammu have started crash courses for Kashmiri students, in which they cover the syllabus in two-three months.

“We have started crash courses for Kashmir students, so that their studies do not suffer due to the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir. These students are always welcome in Jammu as Jammu has always helped them during their difficult times,” said the owner of a coaching institute in Jammu.