II K I O photographs please."

I\l pleaded Brij Nath Rai-

I 'I na. who is among 4.800 Hindus still living In the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

He has consistently refused to shift to the Hindu-dominated Jammu region of the state where a majority of his community has been living in refugee camps for the past eight years. He feels that photographs and television footage attract the attention of terrorists.

Raina, who runs a grocery shop in Giroo-Noorpoora, a Muslim dominated village of about 700 families, is the father of six daughters of marriageable age. but is in no mood to leave behind his land, shop and home for an uncertain future outside the valley.

There are 30 families of Kashmiri Hindus in the vast

Noorpoora village, which! a township. But there

are certain inherent fears that Raina. like his community members, has not been able to overcome.

We are here because our Muslim brothers do not allow us to move out." Madhu Sudan, a farmer, told India Abroad News Service. "Here we have our orchards and fields and do not have to look for dole from the government and have big and spacious houses to live in while those in Jammu are cramped one room tenements," he said in visible contempt of those who migrated.

Staying back in the valley has its own problems for the Kashmiri Pandits. They have not found prospective grooms for their daughters and brides for their sons. Raina has tried hard for the past five years to find matches for his daughters, but without success.

His fellow community members point out the case of Santosh Kumar Kaul who has turned 40 but has not got a bride for himself despite frantic efforts by his father Janaki Nath Kaul, an affluent orchardlst. The problem is that the girls who have migrated to Jammu do not want to marry into families still settled in the valley.

The girls look for a settled and safe life and after the massacres in Sangrama and Wand-hama. they have become more fearful of marrying boys living in the valley, said Maharaj Krishan, whose family migrated in 1990.

Many of those who have stayed back in the valley have sent their children to Jammu. Brij Nath Dhar. a development worker, stays with his widowed sister Omajee. The two have sent their children to Jammu.

They feel that if at all extremists attack them, at least their children would be safe. That is why the 30 families there have lust 74 people though entire families account for 230. All the others are in Jammu and Udhampur. Dhar's son Sanjay is in Jammu where he has completed his graduation. Omajee's son Uplnder too is there.

The girls are sent to Jammu to protect them from abuse by extremists. Boys are sent to study and get jobs in an atmosphere free of tension. The few who have remained in the valley are here because of their large land holdings, orchards and a reluctance to live as refugees. Though terrorists have created panic with frequent massacres of Hindus, they feel they are safe surrounded by friendly local Muslims.

-India Abroad News Service