'Grant Indian citizenship or deport us to Pakistan'

Wives of surrendered Kashmiri militants say that the Indian government was denying them travel documents to visit their families in Pakistan.

Srinagar:Pakistani wives of former Kashmiri militants on Monday appealed the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government to either grant them Indian citizenship or deport them to the neighbouring country.

These women arrived in Kashmir in the last decade along with their husbands under a rehabilitation scheme for surrendered militants.

"It is our right to have Indian citizenship. We should be made citizens here as is the case with women who marry men in any country. We appeal the Government of India and the state government to either grant us citizenship or deport us," one of the protesters, Misbah, told reporters during a protest in Srinagar's press colony.

She alleged that the government was denying them travel documents to visit their families in across the Line of Control (LoC).

"It has been over eight years since I came here with my husband. Some women are here for nearly 15 years. We have no identity of our own. We can vote and contest in elections but can't have a passport," she said, adding, "We want to visit our parents. If we had done anything wrong put us in jails and deport us. The administration brought us here, promised us a lot of things and now nothing is being done."

In 2010, former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah had announced a rehabilitation policy for former Kashmiri militants, who had crossed over to Pakistan from 1989 to 2009.

Hundreds of Kashmiris, who had crossed the LoC for arms training, returned along with their families through Nepal border till 2016, after which the policy was discontinued by the Centre.