PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday accused the administration of forcing non-locals to leave Kashmir in the wake of the Ganderbal attack, prompting jittery police and civil officers to issue a denial.

Security forces have detained dozens of locals for questioning as part of the investigation into the attack that killed six non-local workers and a local doctor at Gangangir in Ganderbal on Sunday. Five others were injured.

The victims were working for a company that is constructing one of the two tunnels connecting Srinagar to Ladakh to provide an all-weather road link to
the region.

The attack has triggered panic among non-locals, with Mehbooba claiming that the administration was forcing them out.

“After the barbaric attack at Sonamarg there are reports that the local admin is pressurising non-local labourers to leave the Valley immediately. While I understand their obvious sense of panic but asking them to leave in this manner is not a solution,” the former chief minister posted on X.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti addresses a press conference amid the counting of votes for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, at the party headquarters, in Srinagar, Tuesday. PTI

Mehbooba said it would create more difficulties and send a bad message to
the country.

“J&K recently witnessed peaceful terror-free elections & this knee-jerk reaction will only prove otherwise. Might also cause outrage against Kashmiris working & studying in other states,” she wrote on X.

She requested chief minister Omar Abdullah and lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to “intervene & at least give them enough time”. The police report to the LG’s administration.

The police and Kashmir’s divisional administration denied the allegations.

Ganderbal police said the social media post about non-local labourers being asked to leave was “completely baseless”.

“The J&K police is committed to maintaining security and a sense of safety to all intending to earn their livelihood,” the police said in a statement.

The divisional administration dismissed “Internet posts” claiming non-locals were being pressurised to leave the Valley. “The divisional administration Kashmir has clarified on such news, terming it baseless, holding no merit,” an official handout from the government said.

The handout said the administration had taken all measures to ensure the safety and security of non-local workers in the Valley.

“The rumours spread on social media platforms regarding the administration pressurising non-local workers to leave the Valley are false,” the handout read.

The government has also asked everyone to desist from “amplifying the unfounded rumours and sought the cooperation of locals to defeat the agenda of vested interested individuals to derail the peace in Valley”.

The police and divisional administration did not mention Mehbooba by name.

Security forces on Tuesday continued the hunt for the militants involved in the attack without any success. Drones and sniffer dogs are helping in the combing operations.