He earns his living as 'Pitthu' (luggage and kids carrier) at the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi in the Jammu valley. A thirty-six-year-old soft-spoken Kashmiri youth, Noor Mohammad, loves to live his life peacefully by hard earned money, rather than being a terrorist for the sake of earning lump sum amount in one go. Noor reminisces how a terrorist group had once approached him at his hometown in Poonch district. The commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba asked him to participate in the special training of operating arms and ammunitions in one of his camps and assured him that his family would be safe and would not face any financial crunch at all.



Speaking to Headlinesindia, Noor said,"I simply refused to be a terrorist. A terrorist receives bullets from both ends. It is not only I, but many others like me, who do not want to extend their support to such terrorist groups. However, they are left with little choice in Kashmir." In Kashmir the sources of income are limited and just for the sake of upbringing the family, one has to either migrate in search of livelihood or else join terrorist camps, added Noor. Noor went on to say further that the terrorists group wanted to make his house as their hideout but, somehow he managed to turn down their demand on the ground of having small kids at home. "The next day, I managed to flee from my hometown leaving behind the whole family," he added. However, he visits his family occasionally and has advised his wife strictly to stay away from such terrorist group.

As expected after few days the terrorists group came to know about his continued absence from home. They visited his place and inquired about him and threatened his wife to slay all, if Noor did not join them. "But my wife told them that he (Noor) left home without even informing her. It has been over six months since he left home, neither did he return nor has sent any financial assistance," recalled Noor. In the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi, Noor lives on footpath and is pretty happy with his chicken-feed earnings. Despite around 15,000 Pitthus engaged in the business, on an average, he manages to earn Rs 60 for each carriage and works day and night for his three little children, who are living with their mother in the 'valley of death'.

Talking to Headlinesindia, an eminent scholar K Raina(name changed) of Srinagar said,"The mindset of citizens of Jammu and Kashmir has split into two parts. One demands military should evacuate the valley and the other says militants should leave the valley." As far as Kashmiri males are concerned, it is not only the Hindus who are fleeing away their home just to save their lives. In fact they are being joined even by their Muslim brethrens. Terrorists groups use new faces to pass on their information to related group, so as to evade security cordon. Commenting on the present state in the valley Raina concluded, "The sense of fear still prevails in the Kashmir valley. It has not been completely eliminated. Anything can happen anytime in the so called 'Paradise on Earth'."