West Punjab (Pakistan) Hindu refugees demonstrate for their rights

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) More than a hundred refugees from West Punjab in Pakistan, presently living near Jammu in J&K, today held a demonstration here demanding that the State government treat them as 'proper Indian citizens' and allow them to vote in state elections.

The protestors under the banner of 'West Pakistan Hindu Refugees' and 'World Hindu Federation', demanded that the Centre have a look at their condition and make sure that all the rights granted to them by the Union government were being ensured by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

We are being treated like aliens and not Indian citizens because we are Hindus, they alleged that the state government had even deprived them of their voting rights, which had been given to them by the Central government.

The refugees, mostly non-Muslims and numbering about 3.5 lakh, have been living as refugees for the last 58 years in the adjoining areas of Jammu.

UNI AN VD HS1751