Bengal CM demands probe; deceased were threatened by ultras, say families
Hours after alleged Pakistan-backed terrorists gunned down five migrant Murshidabad labourers in Kashmir, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the “dastardly act” and demanded “strong investigation” to bring out the real truth behind the “pre-planned murder.”
Mamata said as there is no political activity in Kashmir, it is the duty of the Central Government to bring out the truth through a “strong” investigation into the murders.
Expressing deep shock at the incident and announcing a compassionate grant of `5 lakh to each of the five bereaved families, Mamata said, “It is most unfortunate incident” that “five innocent labourers were brutally killed in a pre-planned manner”.
Five labourers from Bahal village in Sagardighi block of Murshidabad district — Noimuddin Sheikh, Mursalim Sheikh, Rofik Sheikh, Kamruddin Sheikh and Rofikul Sheikh — who used to work at apple gardens in Kulgam district, were gunned down by ultras on Tuesday. Sixth labourer Jahiruddin Sheikh was injured but managed to escape.
Noimuddin’s father Jaris Sheikh, also a labourer in an apple garden in Kashmir, said his son and other workers were regularly getting threat calls from the terrorists asking them to leave the Valley. “They were telling us to leave the Valley as we are non-Kashmiris. I decided to come back and returned yesterday. My son was supposed to return on Thursday as he was yet to get his payment,” Jaris Sheikh said.
At Sagardighi the waling wife of Kamaruddin Sheikh told the visiting politicians how her husband was forced to go to Kashmir as “we needed fund for getting our daughter’s kidney operated. Now that he is dead who will take care of the family … let alone the operation. We have lost our sole earning member.”
Kamaruddin had said that he would not go back to Kashmir after he had acquired sufficient funds for her daughter’s operation, his wife reported. “My father told me that he will make sure that I get well soon,” a wailing daughter of the victim said asking all and sundry to fetch her father.
Every year during August the labourers used to go to the Valley to work and return after October. The apple season in Kashmir starts in the second week of August and peaks in September-October.
Requesting the Government to ensure her husband Jahiruddin’s (recuperating in a hospital) safe return to Murshidabad his wife Paramita said, “Once he is back, I will never ever allow him to go back to Kashmir to work.”
Hundreds of workers from Musrshidabad and neighbouring Malda are a regular to Kashmir Valley during the apple season, locals said adding they have not been able to contact their near and dear ones working in Kashmir for the past several days.
While Kamaruddin’s daughter said she had not been able to speak to her father for many days until she received the news of his death from the local police and journalists, another woman Roshni Bibi, said she has been unable to contact her husband for the last 10 days.
“After the news of the killing reached the village, all of us couldn’t sleep as I am unable to connect with my husband Rabiul for the last 10 days. His mobile phone is unreachable. We have tried to connect the labour contractor. But, till now there have been no positive response,” she said.
Elsewhere, Bengal BJP president attacked the Chief Minister for making “irresponsible statements about the Centre” and advised her to “set her own house in order.”
Wondering “why at all the labourers from Bengal have to go to Kashmir after all risking their lives,” he said, “Mamata Banerjee should feel ashamed that the labourers are going to other States to get killed because they have no job in Bengal. She should feel ashamed of that instead of targeting the Centre and reminding it of its duties on law and order. The Centre is taking and will continue to take adequate care of that.”