Photos: Jammu and Kashmir’s Bakarwal nomads migrate early after Kathua case
Updated On Apr 20, 2018 11:51 AM IST
The Bakarwal nomads of Jammu and Kashmir have now become the talk of India due to the recent gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua. From centuries the Bakarwals brought their animals down from the Kashmir plains into Jammu in September and October to avoid the tough winter and returned again the following spring. But this incident has frightened them following their early annual migration from Jammu.
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Updated on Apr 20, 2018 11:51 AM IST
A woman belonging to the Bakarwal nomadic community holds her son at a temporary camp near Udhampur in Jammu. The Muslim nomads who lead their goats, cows and horses up and down the Kashmir hills have speeded up their annual migration out of Jammu due to rising tensions between the community after the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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A girl is seen with her family belongings at her temporary camp near Udhampur. In Kathua case, according to police a group of people tortured and killed the girl in a bid to scare the Bakarwals out of the district definitively. This case has not only frightened the Bakarwals but also created a national storm of controversy. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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The Bakarwals have followed with horror the accounts of the suffering inflicted on the girl. “A lot of us were traumatised,” said Gulam Mohammad, who found out about the crime by listening to his old transistor radio. “We have daughters here with us. We sleep badly at night because we set up camp on the roadside and we are worried that someone could come,” the 74-year-old added. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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With trucks passing dangerously close, a girl from the Bakarwal community leads her herd on the main highway up to the Kashmir plains that has been their summer home for centuries and brings them down into Jammu in September and October to avoid the tough winter. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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A nomad gives water to livestock at the Bakarwal camp. The Bakarwal nomads make up about 10 percent of the 12.5 million population of Jammu and Kashmir but population growth and road construction has made it increasingly difficult for them to maintain their lifestyle as only few own land. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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A family sits outside their camp while migrating out of Jammu. The Bakarwals say that the local governments harass them by evicting them from land and putting barbed wire around forests that they have used for camps. (Sajjad Hussain / AFP)
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Updated on Apr 20, 2018 11:51 AM IST