Retired paramilitary personnel staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Sunday demanding ‘one rank, one pension’, pay parity with the Army, among other benefits and expressed disappointment as CRPF soldiers, who were recently killed in the Pulwama terror attack, have not been recognised as martyrs.

George C.V., a former CRPF soldier, claimed that the Prime Minister’s slogans of “veer jawan” were only political stunts. “For the last five years, the government made several promises to us, but none were fulfilled. This time our vote will go to NOTA.”

The retired soldiers, protesting under the banner of the Confederation of Ex-Paramilitary Forces Welfare Association, included members of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetian Border Police, Sashtra Seema Bal, Assam Rifles and the Central Industrial Security Force, which together comprise the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

The group said that under the 7th Central Pay Commission pay structure, CAPF soldiers were being paid at par with civilian instead of defence personnel. Maun Singh Kaputi, an ex-BSF soldier, who served during the 1971 war, said, “We are a fighting force but we are treated as civil servants.” Demands of the former soldiers also include provision of ₹1 crore as ex-gratia to families of martyrs, provision of CSD canteens. They said they had petitioned the government and had gone on several strikes, but were always ignored.