High pay, high peril: Indian Kashmir still attracts migrant workers

Por Agence France-Presse — South China Morning Post – News feed

Advertisement India Asia South Asia High pay, high peril: conflict-torn Indian Kashmir still attracts migrant workers

Despite militant killings and security patrols, half a million Indian labourers flock to the region every year for double their home wages

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Indian migrant labourers rest at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Srinagar in August. Since 2019, at least 24 migrant workers have been killed in militant attacks across the territory, according to local media reports. Photo: AFP

An Indian migrant worker prepares food inside a mud shelter near a brick kiln on the outskirts of Srinagar in August. Photo: AFP

Agence France-Presse Published: 2:41pm, 14 Sep 2026 Updated: 2:57pm, 14 Sep 2026

Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.

Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who stream into the Himalayan region each year, forming the backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labour from some of India’s poorest states.

The dependence has endured despite decades of insurgency and a series of militant attacks that have made migrant workers vulnerable targets.

Since 2019, at least 24 migrant workers have been killed in militant attacks across the territory, according to local media reports. More than 1,500 people were killed in the same period, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 219 of them civilians.