Baramulla: At least 16 Pakistan-origin wives of former Kashmiri militants were detained on Monday during the protest when they were trying to march towards the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Uri.
Eyewitnesses said that around 30 women, along with their children, were marching towards the LoC demanding travel documents for enabling them to visit their parents in Pakistan.
However, as the protesting women reached Khanpur, a police party reached on the spot and detained at least 16 of them, Saira Javaid, one of the Pakistani women who could not participate in the scheduled protest told Free Press Kashmir.
The protesting women accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration and past governments of the erstwhile state of giving them a cold shoulder regarding their genuine demands.
“We will continue to protest till our demands are not met and till our last breath,” said another Pakistani woman Nusrat Begum.
“If the government does not accept us, they should deport us to Pakistan. In the first place, they should accept us because our husbands are Kashmiris and we have not committed any crime by marrying them. Kashmiri people are citizens of India and so are we,” she said.
They said the administration should accept them as they have children and have families here.
Another woman Bushra told Free Press Kashmir that this is not the first time they are protesting as they have been on the roads for years.
“The issue is that we don’t have any documents or any identity. The only identity we have is that she is the wife of a militant,” she said.
She said the protests for the same would continue until they are not being provided the documents to travel to the other side of the border so that they can meet their loved ones.
Senior Superintendent of Police Baramulla did not respond to repeated phone calls from Free Press Kashmir.
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