Police refuse entry to Kashmiri residents to Punjab even with passes

JAMMU In occupied Kashmir, amid lockdow n, people, w ho have to enter Punjab for emergency purposes through the LakhanpurMadhopur gatew ay, have to face inconvenience as the Indian police in Punjab do not entertain the movement passes issued by the authorities. The worst sufferers are the patients who have to visit Punjab or other states of India for medical checkup or treatment. At Madhopur, w hich is the gateway to Punjab from Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab Police are not allowing entry even to the patients who have the movement passes. Even people carrying the movement passes issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Kathua, which shares its boundary with Punjab, and the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, are being denied entry into Punjab. “I have been assigned the work of constructing the tunnels. The Divisional Commissioner ’s office in Jammu had issued me a movement pass to purchase raw material from Punjab but the policemen, deployed at Madhopur, did not allow me to enter Punjab,” Ishant Gupta told media at the Madhopur checkpost. Many people said their movement passes w ere not being entertained by the Punjab policemen at Madhopur checkpoint.—KMS