Protest march of Pakistani wives of ex-militants towards Raj Bhavan foiled by police

Srinagar, Sep 28,: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday foiled a march of the wives of former Kashmiri militants, when tried to move toward Raj Bhawan in Srinagar.

A police official told news gathering agency Kashmir Dot Com- (KDC) that a dozen of Pakistani wives of former Kashmiri militants who marched towards Raj Bavan Srinagar in Auto Rikshas and were detained by male Police personnel outside the Raj Bhawan.

These wives of former Kashmiri militants, who have Pakistani nationality and had returned to the Valley under government’s rehabilitation policy in 2010, have been asking government to either provide them Indian citizenship rights or deport them to Pakistan.

One of the protestors alleged that the government has been “insensitive” with regards to the issuance of travel documents to them of after having arrived in Kashmir, along with their Kashmiri husbands, (read former militants) before or after 2010.

“Our appeal to the Lt. Governor is to address our issues sensibly. We are living a miserable life here, and our children’s’ future seems bleak as we are not being considered citizens of India, even after having come to Kashmir along with their husbands, under rehabilitation policy ” said another protester.

She said that dozens of Pakistani women who had arrived in Kashmir along with their former militant husbands through the India-Nepal border under the government’s rehabilitation policy in 2010 are treated as “second-class citizens”.

The protesting women appealed the UT administration to either provide them travel documents or push them back to Pakistan.

We are the most unfortunate women in the world, who could not even participate in the last rites of their family members and relatives in Pakistan.

“We appeal to the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha to have pity upon his sisters (these women) who lives like orphans in Kashmir ever since they arrived here,” protestors added. (KDC)