64 Kashmiris cross over to HP

Chamba, Oct 4 (UNI) Around sixty four people from Sawara village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir crossed over to Himachal Pradesh following threat to their lives from militants, Tissa SDM R K Sahu today said.

''The people reached Nodhal Dhar of Chamba district of the state last night after three-days of journey from their village,'' Mr Sahu told UNI here.

He said 30 children, 14 women and twenty men who had entered Himachal Pradesh have been brought to Tarela from Nodhal Dhar and were temporarily sheltered in makeshift tents.

Alternate arrangements were being made to house them in permanent houses besides providing them adequate security, since they were a traumatised lot, he said.

Mr Sahu said the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) officials intercepted these people on entering the border of the state and verified their antecedents before bringing them to Tarela in the district.

Later, talking to mediapersons, the villagers alleged that they were virtually held captive in their own houses by the militants who neither allowed them or their children to venture out.

They said more people were likely to cross over to Himachal from Jammu and Kashmir in the near future since several were still hiding in the forests, while some others were travelling to Jammu town following a threat to their lives from the militants.

Alleging that the situation in Doda district of the state had deteriorated ever since the Congress Government came to power in the state, they said no one was safe in the state now as during the earlier governments when there was no threat to women and children.

UNI XC-AS HS PR BD1835