Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 12

Pakistani wives of former militants, who returned under a rehabilitation policy, have asked the Indian Government to either grant them citizenship or deport them.

“We have not done any crime. We returned to Kashmir under a proper rehabilitation policy. We want to settle here. Why are you forcing us to take law in our hands?” Taiba, a resident of Abottabad, who is married to a former militant from Baramulla, told reporters in Srinagar.

“We want the Indian Government to either grant us citizenship or deport us to Pakistan,” she said.

In 2010, the then state government had announced a rehabilitation policy for those who had crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) between 1989 and 2009 for arms training, but had not indulged in militant activity and were ready to return, surrender and settle as normal citizens. Over 350 former militants, along with their families, returned through designated routes and Nepal under the policy.

The wives of the former militants said it had now been almost 10 years but they were not being given travel documents to visit their families in Pakistan.

“My child wants to see his grandparents, but he is unable to,” Taiba rued.

She appealed to Indian and Pakistani authorities to look at their plight seriously and end it.

“We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Minister, Home Minister as well as Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to end our plight. Both governments should sit together to solve our issue,” Taiba said.

She said they were daughters of Pakistan and it was imperative for Imran Khan to solve their problem. “Why have we been left like orphans here?” she asked.

They also appealed to the United Nations and human rights organisations across the World to take up their cause with India and Pakistan.

In the past too, the Pakistani wives of former militants have staged protests in Srinagar to seek their travel documents.