Jammu: West Pakistan refugees on Thursday held protests across the city against the Jammu and Kashmir administration alleging that they are being denied government jobs despite abrogation of Article 370 and the community being granted citizenship rights.
They claimed that a few days back police officials turned them away despite some youth of their community passing all the required mandatory tests for selection in the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
However, no immediate response to their allegations was available from the police.
Led by West Pakistan refugees action committee president Laba Ram Gandhi, over 300 West Pakistan refugees held protests and raised slogans demanding justice by providing government jobs to their wards and benefits of the central government schemes to their families as is applicable to the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir.
“We are holding protests today in support of our demand for government jobs as per the due process of being citizens of Jammu and Kashmir,” Gandhi told reporters here.
He said that a few days back, there was a recruitment drive in the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“Our boys passed all required mandatory – physical and written tests. They passed both of them. When they went to police lines to submit their documents, they were pushed out by saying that they should get a state subject certificate,” he alleged.
The police officers told them requirements would be done as per the state subject and no one changed that, Gandhi alleged.
Lashing out at the Lieutenant Governor’s administration, he said, “Eighteen months have passed since abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35 A. We got citizenship rights. We voted for the first time in the District Development Council (DDC) polls. But now police are denying us the right to jobs despite the end of the state subject era.”
Despite production of domicile, youth of the West Pakistan community are being denied jobs as citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, he alleged.
“What is the fun of abrogation of Article 370, if they have denied us the rights as citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Why is the Lieutenant Governor’s administration doing this with us,” Gandhi alleged.
People belonging to West Pakistan, Valmikis, women marrying outside communities, non-registered Kashmiri migrants and displaced people got their new domicile under a new set of rules issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration last year after abrogation of provisions of Article 370.
With the citizenship rights, they have the right to vote, right to own properties, right to government jobs, right to education in professional colleges.
