SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR – More than a dozen members of the All Jammu and Kashmir Handicapped Association, AJKHA, began a hunger strike in Srinagar on May 25, 2011, to protest what they say is unfair treatment by the state government.
According to the association, there are more than 360,000 specially abled people in Jammu and Kashmir. The local government hasn't conducted any official state surveys to determine the exact number.
Among the group's demands are an increase in monthly pensions, a provision to include free education and medical aid in private hospitals and a request to implement a new policy that would reserve a quota of government jobs for the disabled.
