Five persons were today injured when police resorted to cane charge to foil a march held by a refugee group to the State Legislature in support of their demand of grant of citizenship rights in Jammu and Kashmir.
Over 1200 West Pakistani refugees took out the protest rally led by Labba Ram Gandhi from Mubarak Mandi complex towards State Legislature.
Raising anti-government and anti-chief minister Omar Abdullah slogans, the refugees also burnt effigies of the government.
To disperse the agitators from marching towards the security sensitive Civil Secretariat, police resorted to cane charge in which five persons were injured, a senior official said.
Later some protesters sat on a dharna at Dogra Hall and Shalimar Chowk demanding a meeting with the chief minister and presentation of fresh memorandum pressing for the grant of the permanent citizenship rights to West Pakistani refugees.
Over one and half lakh WP refugees living closer to border belts in Jammu, Kathua and Samba district are living like unwanted citizens of the state without citizenship rights for past 60 years, Gandhi told reporters here.
"We want grant of our rights. State government has always given a step motherly treatment to us," he alleged.
The WP refugees have no right to own land, property, cast votes, seek jobs and admission in professional colleges in Jammu and Kashmir as they are not considered to be the citizens of the state as per the state constitution.
