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Pilgrims, labourers flee Kashmir: AFP

Thousands of Hindu pilgrims and migrant labourers were competing for space on Thursday on any form of transport to take them out of Kashmir, following a series of massacres in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday that left at least 84 dead.

In downtown Srinagar, groups of people without bus tickets could be seen imploring travel agents to rent them cars or jeeps to allow them to leave the region.

"We have no way of handling such a rush of people as we simply don't have the vehicles available," said one agent, Iqbal Ahmed.

"Even if we did have enough cars, a lot of the local Muslim drivers are refusing to ferry people out, as most people want to leave via Jammu," Ahmed said.

Hindu-majority Jammu is still under curfew, amid fears of possible reprisals against Muslims following the massacres by Pakistan-based militants.

The worst attacks targeted Hindus making the annual pilgrimage to the holy Amarnath cave and migrant Hindu labourers working in brick-making kilns.

Kashmir officials said they had laid on 75 special buses for those wishing to leave Kashmir.

In the streets of Srinagar, security forces stepped up patrols in areas frequented by tourists, including restaurants and souvenir shops.

"I will never return to Kashmir again," said Bhim Bhadhur, a migrant labourer from Nepal, who said he had left his brick-making job without even picking up his wages.

Kiln managers said their businesses were in danger of collapsing with so many workers leaving.

"There is no way of stopping them, because we can't provide security and this is not the first time that they have been targetted by militants," said manager Sheikh Nissar.

The pilgrims trying to get out of Srinagar were both fearful and angry.

"I'm too scared to stay," said Heera Manih from the eastern state of Orissa. "Even though it means I will miss making my devotions at Amarnath, I'm going home."

Others blamed the authorities for failing to provide adequate security for the annual pilgrimage, which has been targetted by militants in the past.

"We have not come here to die and the government has completely failed to take care of the pilgrims in this crisis," said Babu Ram, from the northern state of Punjab.

Ram said he was willing to pay almost any price for a taxi.

There was similar anger in Pahalgam, the site of the worst massacre in which 33 people, most of them pilgrims, were killed.

The pilgrim campsite in Pahalgam was all but deserted, and the voluntary groups, which annually distribute free food in the community kitchen were packing up to return home.

"In spite of our pleas to the government and assurances by the administration that fool-proof security has been provided to the yatris, still we became targets," said volunteer Ajay Gupta, also from Punjab.

But not all pilgrims were returning, amid New Delhi's insistence that the pilgrimage should not be called off and fresh promises of extra security.

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