Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 12: Pakistani wives of former Kashmiri militants today appealed to the Government that they be either granted Indian citizenship or deported back to Pakistan.
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.
They said that nearly 350 Pakistani females had come to Kashmir along with their Kashmiri spouses after the Government announced a rehabilitation policy for the militants. “At that time we were promised travel documents, but the Government did not keep the promises,” Toiba, one of the women told reporters during a press conference here.
She added that they are unable to meet family and visit home. We request the government to either grant us passport or travel documents or deport us. Some females have been divorced, some have psychiatric complications, she said.
The women alleged that they were not given the promised rights and were denied 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 ten-fifteen years,” a protesting woman said, adding that she doesn’t have an Indian passport to travel to Pakistan.
They appealed the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, to take their cases with his Indian counterpart. “We request the leadership of both the countries to deal with our cases on humanitarian cases,” a woman said, adding that they have been denied the right to visit their country.
They rued the rehabilitation policy for surrendered Kashmiri 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 of from our families have been reduced us to living corpses,” another woman said.
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