‘It is like living in a nightmare that never ends’: Lost near the LoC

The recent conflict between India and Pakistan has left migrants in Kashmir’s border areas jobless, stranded and afraid for their future

Tauseef Ahmad

Sajid Raina

Migrant workers take a break at a construction site in Nusoo village in Bandipora district on May 2, 2025. They came to work here after the roads to the Gurez Valley were closed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Majid Raina/The Migration Story

BANDIPORA, Jammu and Kashmir, May 10, 2025: The narrow road that leads to Dawar town in Bandipora is quiet. It’s the administrative centre of Gurez Valley, an off-beat tourist destination near the Line of Control (LoC). Two weeks earlier, trucks ferried cement, timber and migrant workers on this road. But today, the scene is starkly different. The valley has been closed off by the authorities due to the recent terror attack and the military conflict that ensued between India and Pakistan between May 7 and May 10. 

On April 22, a terrorist attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people. Subsequently, the Jammu and Kashmir administration ordered the closure of 48 major tourist destinations, citing security concerns. In Bandipora, which is located about 60kms north of Srinagar, the Gurez Valley is a major tourist attraction which shut down along with other tourist hubs in the region such as Sonamarg, Doodhpathri and Bangus Valley. Many seasonal migrants seek work every year in local businesses in these parts that are heavily dependent on tourism. The administration’s decision and the conflict that followed has not only hit these businesses, but also wiped out work and wages of workers, who are now deeply anxious, as they dip into their savings to stay afloat. 

Following the Pahalgam attack, tensions between India and Pakistan mounted swiftly. On the night of May 7, India carried out missile strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure sites” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in what it said was a retaliatory response to its neighbour’s involvement in the terror attack. Pakistan responded with firing and artillery shelling along the LoC and later, launched drone and missile attacks into border states. However, on May 10, a ceasefire was announced by both nations. 

In the shadow of a conflict

Masons Ajaz Ahmad and Anil Kumar plastering walls in Ward No. 7, Bandipora district on May 2, 2025. 

Majid Raina/The Migration Story.

The migrant workers in Bandipora district said that many who were living and working in Kashmir, had left for their home states on May 8, gripped by anxiety and fear. Meanwhile, local Kashmiris who had migrated to other Indian states started returning as attacks on them mounted.  At least 16 Kashmiri shawl sellers working in Mussoorie came back home after being assaulted, and several students, who had faced discrimination in northern Indian states, made their way back to Kashmir too.       

But migrant worker Ajaz Ahmed stayed back in Kashmir. A 38-year-old mason from Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmed is a seasonal migrant who has been coming to Kashmir for carpentry work since 2021. This year, however, the closure of Gurez Valley has abruptly snapped all work opportunities that this region offered.

“I came to Bandipora on April 15 with six other workers from my village,” he told The Migration Story, sitting on a concrete ledge outside a shuttered tea stall in Bandipora town. “We had work contracts with a local contractor for three months in the Gurez Valley. But on April 26, when we were supposed to reach Gurez, we were stopped at the checkpost near Razdan Pass [the entrance to the valley]. They said no non-locals would be allowed beyond this point. Since then, we’ve been living off our own savings and there’s no work, but we can’t go back yet.”

Local contractors estimate that every year a few hundred migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar come to J&K’s border areas to work as labourers in construction, road repair and carpentry. The region’s heavy winter snowfall and its remoteness mean that most projects are undertaken between May and October — a short but crucial window in the summer for these workers to earn money.

Nawab Ahmad, a seasonal migrant worker, clears the dust on a road in Bandipora district on May 2, 2025.

Majid Raina/The Migration Story

Nawab Ahmad, 33, who hails from Gopiganj village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi district, migrated to Bandipora’s Rampora village and opened a barber shop here in 2021.He said that even though many parts of Kashmir have not been affected by the cross-border shelling, migrants’ families are afraid. “I, too, have been called by my mother several times, asking me to come back,” he said. “The TV channels said that Kashmir is not safe and that tourists were leaving. That made our families even more anxious.”

While these workers feel safe in Bandipora, their sudden unemployment has forced them to seek daily-wage work, and some have chosen to return to their villages. “We are safe here; no one has asked us to leave,” Ahmad said. “But the blackouts, the markets closing and the tensions [between India and Pakistan] have affected our work.”

For the past 10 days, he hasn’t earned more than a few thousand rupees. Contractors and local business owners don’t want to take too many risks because of the restrictions on movement and the uncertain situation. Many people are nervous about the future and are stocking up on essentials like food for the next three to four months. “But for people like us, we survive on what we earn each day,” Ahmad said. “We don’t have any savings to fall back on. If this situation continues for another week, we don’t know how we’ll manage.”

At the height of the conflict, the authorities evacuated residents of Gurez Valley and relocated them to safe places in Bandpira town. However, most migrant workers are now forced to fend for themselves. Many said they had already exhausted their savings they had brought with them. 

No work for migrants, no business for locals 

Seasonal workers leaving from Bandipora town for Jammu as tensions escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack. May 7, 2025. Majid Raina/The Migration Story

Unlike urban centres like Srinagar or Jammu, construction work in Bandipora distrcit – especially in the Gurez and Tulail valleys – pays workers higher wages because of the area’s remoteness and the tough terrain. Anil Kumar, 26, originally from Dhobwal village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, said, “Here, I earn ₹800-900 a day as a construction labourer. In my hometown, I barely get ₹400. Even after paying for food and shared rooms, I save ₹20,000-25,000 a month during the [work] season.”

Kumar and four others from his village have been working in the Gurez Valley for the past five years. “It’s quiet here, people are respectful, and the contractors treat us well,” he said. 

But this year, things are different. “We didn’t even get to unpack properly. Within days of our arrival, the authorities asked us not to visit these border areas,” he adds. “We don’t have enough money to return yet. Many left soon after the attack, but some of us do not have a choice.” Kumar, who has taken a loan to pay for his children’s education, cannot leave Kashmir yet and must find work here.  

For now, many workers are stuck in Bandipora town and are pooling money to stay in cramped rented rooms. Some, like Ajaz, have reached out to local contractors for temporary gigs at other construction sites, but few are willing to take the risk to employ them, given the restrictions on traffic movement in many areas.

Ram Babu, a carpenter from Ghaura village of Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, said, “There is fear. Not just of militants, but of what will happen to us in coming months. If [the authorities] find us outside the permitted areas, we could be detained or fined.” 

Mohammad Arif, 34, a seasonal worker from Bajpatti village in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, cutting tiles in Nowpora, Bandipora on May 5, 2025.  Majid Raina/The Migration Story

Most migrant workers came here with the expectation of at least five or six months of steady work. Many hoped that Kashmir’s summer construction boom would help to repay their debts. “This is the only time of the year I earn,” said Mohammad Arif, 34, a daily-wager from Bajpatti village in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. “We don’t get work back home unless it’s the harvesting season. If I return now, there’s nothing for me there either.”

Shutdowns in these border areas have disrupted the local economy given that many businesses are dependent on seasonal labourers. Zahid Ahmad, a contractor based in Dawar town, said that he had lined up multiple construction projects for the summer, both from the government and private entities. “All are on hold now. My work will remain incomplete because non-locals are not allowed [in these areas]. We’ve lost lakhs in just one week.” 

Shopkeepers as well as hardware store owners and dhabas in Bandipora also report a drop in sales. “These laborers are also our customers,” said Aijaz Lone, who runs a general store in Dawar town. “They buy groceries, eat food, recharge phones… It’s a chain.” 

Hotels and guesthouses in Gurez Valley, which were expecting record bookings this year, are also empty. Nisar Mir, who owns a guesthouse near Habba Khatoon Peak, approximately five kilometres from the LoC, said: “The tourism department had promoted Gurez widely this year. We had full bookings for May. Now, everything has been cancelled.”

Fear of an uncertain future

Tarun Daroj, a welder from Bansra village in Rajasthan’s Nagpur district, working in the Kaloosa area of Bandipora town on May 5, 2025. Majid Raina/The Migration Story

Workers said that their families back home are more afraid now than ever before. “Every time something happens in Kashmir, we face the consequences,” said Ram Babu. But the fear isn’t only about militancy, the workers said. It’s about being stranded. With the restrictions imposed by the authorities, public transport is limited and the cost of travel has shot up. Some workers are even trying to borrow money to fund their return journeys.

Beyond the loss of work and wages, is the sense of dread among the workers, far from their families and in a conflict-vulnerable region. Migrants said they had not slept well ever since the Pahalgam attack and the military escalation between India and Pakistan, gripped by a constant anxiety and feelings of dread. Ravi Kumar, 41, a labourer from Koda village in Jharkhand’s Gumla district, said: “I can’t sleep at night anymore. Every time I hear a loud noise, my heart races. I think this is it. We will be killed. It is like living in a nightmare that never ends.”

Stress from the shutdown is only compounded by the lack of work and uncertainty about the future. Naseer Ahmad Mir, the president of the Bandipora Contractors Association, told The Migration Story that over 200 seasonal migrant workers may have been directly affected by the closures in the Gurez valley. For all of Kashmir, he said, the number could be in the thousands.

“This has created a humanitarian issue,” said general store owner Lone, who also has several ongoing construction projects in Gurez Valley. “Most of these people have no social security, and get no compensation for loss of wages. If this continues, Kashmir will lose its workforce for good.”

A government official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the closure of Gurez Valley is temporary and will be reviewed. 

Till then, the workers have to wait. “They are neither tourists nor locals,” said Lone. 

“Workers build your roads, homes and shops. Yet, they are the first to be forgotten.”

Edited by Subuhi Jiwani 

Tauseef Ahmad is a Kashmir-based freelance journalist. He has reported extensively on the insurgency, human rights, environment and climate change. He tweets at @wseef_t.

Sajid Raina is an independent journalist based in Kashmir. He tweets at @SajidRaina1.