Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 2: Pakistani wives of former Kashmiri militants today protested here demanding citizenship rights and travel documents from Jammu and Kashmir Government.
Scores of women assembled at the Press Enclave here and demanded permission from the Government to return to their native country. They raised slogans in favor of their demands and appealed Government to solve their issues on humanitarian grounds.
The women had married to the Kashmiri men who had gone across the Line of Control for arms training. However, they surrendered and returned to the Valley along with their families under the Government’s rehabilitation policy.
The protesting women alleged that they were not given the promised rights and were denied the permission to meet their families. “We are unable to meet our parents, siblings, and relatives due to lack of travel documents. We haven’t seen them for past 10-15 years,” a protesting woman said, adding that she doesn’t have an Indian passport to travel to Pakistan.
Another woman, Qubra Geelani, said that she recently got divorced and wanted to go back to her home in Pakistan. “I have no place to live now. What will I do? I appeal Government to seriously look into my case,” she said.
They rued the rehabilitation policy for surrendered militants. “The promised benefits were never given to us. We have approached the concerned authorities several times but nothing has happened, so far. The separation from our families has reduced us to living corpses”, another woman said.
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