Srinagar | Jagran News Desk: Concerned at the killing of non-Kashmiris by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday moving non-local apple traders and truck drivers to secure locations in the Valley, particularly in Shopian and Pulwama.
A truck driver from Rajasthan, a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh and an apple trader from Punjab were killed and another apple trader critically injured in three separate attacks by terrorists in Shopian and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir since Monday.
After the killings, fear has overtaken the non-Kashmiri traders and labourers working in Shopian.
News agency IANS quoted sources saying that around 500 trucks from outside the valley have been kept in protection at a bus stand, fruit Mandi and District Collector's office in Shopian by the administration.
The police have put up posters of militants who it believes are involved in the recent killing of the non-locals in the Valley.
The administration in Shopian has also decided that big trucks will ply only on the main roads and not venture into the interior areas.
“The fruit growers have agreed to have the apples transported in smaller vehicles from the orchards to identified pick up points on the main road, where they will be loaded on the trucks. J&K Police has put in additional security measures at the pick up points,” J&K DGP Dilbag Singh was quoted by Times of India as saying.
Singh on Thursday said that the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists involved in the killing of three civilians this week have been identified, and directed for stringent action against the elements inimical to peace.
The police chief also called for effective measures to foil ill-designs of the elements from across the border that are continuously attempting to foment trouble in the state.
Since Monday, militants killed a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh and an apple trader from Punjab in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir where normal life remained affected for the 73rd consecutive day on Wednesday since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
In a separate incident, a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh was shot dead by terrorists in militant-infested Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Meanwhie, on Wednesday, three terrorists were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag. The Jammu and Kashmir Police also managed to arrest the kingpin who spearheaded violent protests in Kashmir Valley after the August 5 decisions.
The oldest among the three terrorists was Nasir Gulzar Chadroo alias Abu Hannan, a resident of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, who had joined the banned Lashker-e-Taiba terror outfit in September last year.
The other two were identified as Zahid Ahmad Lone and Aaqib Ahmad Hajam. While Lone, also a resident of Bijbehara, had joined the terror outfit in July, Hajam, a resident of Redhwani in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, had joined militancy in April. All the three were in their early 20's.
(With PTI inputs)