For the Kashmiri migrant population in the State, the COVID-19 crisis has come at a wrong time.
The lockdown has made things tough for the community that heavily depend on handicrafts trade during tourist seasons in prominent destinations for livelihood.
With none to speak for them, around 800 stranded Kashmiris, including women, children and aged people, seek help from the Central and State governments for facilities to return to their native places.
Over the past three decades, Kerala has been home to several Kashmiri traders. Some of them have settled here for long especially in tourist hotspots such as Kovalam, Varkala, Fort Kochi, Alappuzha and Thekkady along with their families. Some remain here during the peak tourist season from October to April and then head back home for two to three months to return for the next tourist season.
With the COVID-19 scare abruptly halting the tourist season in February and no transportation means to return home, many feel stranded. Muzaffar Ahamad Makhdoomi, a second-generation Kashmiri migrant trader in Kovalam, says many families have run out of their savings, a significant portion of which is set aside for their house and as shop rent.
Irfan Zargar, another trader, says the elderly have been struggling to acclimatise themselves to the unfamiliar warm climate. Any delay in taking them back to their native could cause health problems, he said.
Making matters worse, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has made no attempts to repatriate their people. “There is no one to coordinate such efforts during the lockdown. Our efforts to contact Niraj Kumar, the nodal officer of the Union Territory, turned futile,” says Mr. Makhdoomi, who is the president of the Kashmir Handicrafts Traders Welfare Association.
The community has appealed to the Centre as well as the Kerala government to intervene and operate a special train service or flight to enable their return.