Residents of Jammu are ready to welcome their Kashmiri “guests” with open arms and want them to feel safe in the region.
Residents are waiting to host their brethren from the Valley who will reach Jammu and stay in the winter capital for the rest of the winter.
As the bi-annual Durbar Move will start by the end of this month when Durbar Move offices will close in summer capital Srinagar on October 30 and reopen in winter capital Jammu on November 9, near about 7,000 employees will be reaching here along with their families. They will stay here for the next six months.
Due to the harsh winter in the Kashmir valley, many more people head towards the winter capital during this period. Quite a good number of students from the Valley also head towards Jammu to study in reputed tutorial institutes and this practice has seen an upward trend in the recent years.
But the recent killing of Zahid Rasool Butt of Anantnag in Udhampur by some fringe elements and beef row engulfing the state have put a question mark on whether people from the Valley will be visiting Jammu after the Durbar Move or not.
“We keep waiting for our Kashmiri brethren to reach Jammu and enjoy winter. The act of some anti-social elements will not snap our ties with Kashmir and we are ready to welcome our guests from the Valley,” said Sahil Malhotra, a trader of Raghunath Bazaar in Jammu.
At the same time the Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI), Jammu, wants Kashmiri people to feel safe here. “If anybody faces any kind of problem in Jammu, he or she should feel free to contact the CCI and we will address their problems,” Rakesh Gupta, president, CCI, Jammu, said.
Besides spending on shopping in the winter capital, Kashmiri people also take flats and rooms on rent, which is a kind of earning for local people. “We keep waiting for the Durbar Move so that we give flats and rooms on rent. This has become a routine for the past many years and we don’t want any untoward incident to become a hindrance to this practice,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident of Gujjar Nagar, Jammu.
