Srinagar, July 21, 2020 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam while expressing serious concern over the arrival of 10,000 non-locals in Kashmir has asked the Indian authorities to come clean where these people are tested for COVID-19. Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam in a media interview in Srinagar also questioned the testing and quarantine facilities set up for the Amarnath yatris, who are set to arrive in Kashmir, today.

“This is quite strange that at least 10,000 non-local workers have arrived silently in Kashmir in times of pandemic crisis. They are arriving at a time when COVID-19 is at its peak and cases are showing a huge spike. When Srinagar is under tight lockdown so are other district headquarters, what was the need to bring in outside workforce that too in a huge number when pandemic is at its peak,” the Grand Mufti said.

He asked where these non-locals are tested for Covid and if anyone is positive where they are quarantined. “Majority of these non-local labourers mingle with the common people of Kashmir and they pose a huge risk not just for themselves, for the entire Kashmiri population as they spread to various parts of the Valley,” he said.

“The Yatris too spread in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district and also to Islamabad district of South Kashmir. Besides, they stay in Srinagar also. Government hasn’t so far stated anything about the facilities put in place for testing the yatris and quarantining them,” he said. There is an impression in Kashmir that India is deliberately transporting COVID -19 affected outsiders to spread the virus among the local population in the Kashmir valley.

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