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Kashmiris try ‘spotting' jobs, get Rs10,000 instead

Residents of the remote Mawar village in Handwara held a leopard hostage for two days demanding government jobs for at least five unemployed youth.

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Residents of Mawar in Handwara stop forest authorities from taking charge of caged leopard, seek employment for 5 village youth

SRINAGAR: Catch a wild animal and demand a government job in Kashmir? Residents of the remote Mawar village in Handwara held a leopard hostage for two days demanding government jobs for at least five unemployed youth.

High drama unfolded in the village when the leopard was trapped in a special cage set up by the wildlife department of Kashmir. After the animal was caught, the villagers threw a cordon around the cage preventing forest authorities from lifting it. They handed over the animal on Wednesday but not before they were paid Rs10,000 ransom.

“It was a serious crisis as hundreds of villagers gathered around the cage seeking jobs for at least five youth. We tried our best to convince them that it was not for us to provide jobs, but to no avail,” said Mushtaq Ahmad Parsa, wildlife warden, north Kashmir.

Such was the anger among the villagers that they initially refused to budge unless the authorities brought chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for talks. It was only after hectic negotiations that they agreed to hand over the animal.

“We paid Rs10,000 because the leopard’s life was at risk. It had not eaten anything for full two days in cage. We pooled in money from our own pockets to get its custody. The animal is not a man eater and we are going to release it into the wild after giving it food and medication,” Parsa said.

Regional wildlife warden Farooq Geelani said there was no provision in the law for rewarding people who help catch wild animals. “We can only provide compensation if anyone is mauled by an animal,” he said.

The crisis aggravated due to alleged police inaction. “The wildlife department had promised a reward of Rs10,000 when they had caught another animal at an earlier occasion. The villagers were only demanding their due. Also, there was no law and order problem so there was no need to intervene,” said Haseeb Mughal, superintendent of police, Handwara.

h_ishfaq@dnaindia.net

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