Police have invoked Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to prohibit any gathering of four or more people in the area. Stone pelting youth engaged police in pitched battles in the area after Malik’s arrest. No serious injury to either the police or the protesters was reported during the clashes that have now subsided. Thousands of refugees belonging to Pakistan migrated to the Jammu region during 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars between India and Pakistan.
A joint parliamentary committee set up recently to look into their problems recommended for them all citizenship rights and rights to vote in the state assembly elections. In an anomaly, the refugees were allowed to vote in the country’s parliamentary elections, but not in the state assembly elections. (IANS)