WP Refugees meet Union Minister, demand Citizenship

“We demanded that it should be ensured that the refugees could vote in 2019 elections,” Gandhi said.

The West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) have demanded that they should be granted citizenship and voting rights.
“We were assured that in a phased manner our demands will be met besides also assuring that the “Identity/Nativity certificates” issued by the state government would also be valid in applying for jobs in all the central government departments,” said the four-member delegation led by Association President, Labha Ram Gandhi, today.

Gandhi claimed that they were called to New Delhi. “We took up our long pending issue of citizenship and voting rights during meeting with the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, J&K Affairs, Gyanesh Kumar, who assured us that all necessary steps will be taken to address their demands,” Gandhi said.
“We demanded that it should be ensured that the refugees could vote in 2019 elections,” Gandhi said.
The refugees’ leaders also demanded that the Identity/Nativity certificates issued by the state government be made valid for applying in all the departments and sectors of the central government like Railways, Banks, Post Offices and all other departments.

The delegation also demanded that the compensation be given to the West Pakistan refugees directly by the central government and not through the state machinery.
“We also demanded that the refuges be provided the benefits of all the central government schemes, as in the present scenario, we are not getting the full benefits,” Gandhi said.
Earlier, the delegation also held a meeting with union minister, Dr Jitendra Singh and put forth the demands of the refugees.
The delegation led by Labha Ram Gandhi, comprised of Yashpal Bharti, District President, Kathua, Sukhdev Singh Manhas, Vice-President of the Association and Joginder Kumar.