Family members of the victims of the militant attack on January 1 that killed seven civilians and injured nearly a dozen at Dhangri village in Rajouri on Monday threatened to migrate to a safer place and return the ex gratia amount and government jobs if the administration failed to bring the killers to justice.

The threat is a new worry for the government, which recently forced thousands of Pandit and Dalit employees to suspend their 10-month agitation.

The Pandit and Dalit employees had fled the Valley and struck work last year, seeking relocation to Jammu to escape targeted killings. The survivors of the Dhangri incident, the worst militant attack on civilians in years, have now threatened to relocate.

The top leadership, including home minister Amit Shah, had promised action against the killings that triggered outrage across the country. Shah had hailed the Dhangri residents, telling them their “courage was an example for the country”.

“All of them said that this was their land and they will not leave it. Some of them had come from PoK (in 1947) but despite that their determination to fight it all bravely is a big thing,” Shah had said, after speaking with the affected families.

The families on Monday addressed a media conference in Rajouri where they threatened to migrate to safer areas if the culprits were not brought to justice soon. They also said they would return the ex gratia amount, jobs and weapons that they had received in the wake of the killings.

The families said they were outraged by the recent statement of Jammu & Kashmir director-general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh that Pakistani militants were behind the killings.

They accused Singh of suggesting that the attackers might have fled to PoK after committing the crime. Saroj Bala, who lost both her sons Prince and Deepak to the attack, said the government should shoot her too if it failed to provide her justice.

“It has been 90 days since I lost my sons but the agencies are yet to inform us about any progress in the case and about the terrorists involved in it. Is this justice?” she said.

“The government has given us jobs. What will we do with jobs when we have lost our men? We don’t even cook in our homes. We need no jobs, no money. The government should give us their account so that we return the money,” she added.

She contradicted the DGP’s claim that Pakistani militants were involved.

“How is it so? My son was fired 18 to 20 rounds. Terrorists from across the border would fire a single or twin shot to kill a person but why were so many bullets fired? They (militants) killed people after checking their IDs,” Bala said.

The Dhangri sarpanch said the authorities had claimed soon after the incident that they had nearly solved the case but wondered why the killers were still at large.

The sarpanch told The Telegraph that a meeting would be held on Sunday to decide on their migration plans.

“It would have been better if the BJP was in the Opposition. While in the Opposition, they made things happen but do nothing when they are in power,” he said.