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Hundreds of migrant workers flee Kashmir amid security lockdown

Hundreds of poor migrant workers have begun fleeing Kashmir to return to their villages in northern and eastern India after a complete security lockdown was imposed in the disputed Himalayan region.

Some complained that their Kashmiri employers did not pay them any salary as security forces began imposing tight travel restrictions over the weekend and asked them to leave their jobs.

Jagdish, who uses one name, said workers walked for miles on a highway and hitched rides on army trucks and buses from Srinagar to Jammu, a distance of 160 miles.

The fleeing workers crowded the railway station at Jammu waiting for trains.

Indian authorities has clamped a complete shutdown on Kashmir as they scrapped the state’s special privileges and divided it into two union territories.

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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