JAMMU, INDIA, June 2, 2002: Ever since their forced exodus from the Kashmir Valley as a result of terrorism, Kashmiri Pandits have been subjected to psychological and metabolic stress, leading to rises in diseases and deaths as well as low birth rates in the refugee camps at Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur. Diabetes and hypertension have almost assumed epidemic proportion, according to a noted doctor and Panun Kashmir leader K.L. Chowdhary. Of the over 300,000 Pandits who were uprooted from the valley between February and June in 1990, most have got relocated in tented camps and rented houses in and around Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir State.
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