Pak brides of ex-Kashmiri militants reiterate demand for deportation

Alleging that Kashmir valley is not a safe place for them, Pakistani brides of former Kashmiri militants, who returned under a rehabilitation policy, on Monday reiterated their demand for deportation to their home country.

 

 

 

“We want the Government of India to allow us to return home to meet our dear ones. We have knocked almost all the doors but don’t know why our voices go unheard. The government has rejected us as citizens and it makes no sense for the authorities to stop us from deporting us back to our residential places,” a group of Pak-origin Kashmiri brides told reporters during a press conference here on Monday.

“When Somiya Sadaf (a Pak origin Kashmiri bride) contested the District Development Council (DDC) elections, she was allowed to do so. However, soon after we raised our voice against the government, the counting for the seat from where she was contesting was stopped. It seems that the government was in slumber when many Pak origin women were being elected as panches and Sarpnches,” they said.

The other women present at the press conference expressed their sufferings and demanded that the centre deport them to Pakistan.

Hundreds of Kashmiri men, who had gone to Pakistan for arms training in 90’s and early 20’s came back with their wives and children in 2010 following a rehabilitation introduced by the then chief minister Omar Abdullah.