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| Beig asks the Geelanis to 'understand Quran' | | WP refugees issue and middle path | | Neha
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 1: Only on Friday, BJP leaders like Nirmal Singh, MLA, and Ashok Koul, state BJP general secretary (organization), dismissed the spurious claim of the communal forces and separatists in the Valley that the grant of citizenship rights to the refugees from West Pakistan would change the demography of the state and described the whole issue as "humanitarian" that deserved to be dealt with as such.
Their view evoked a mixed reaction from the Valley. While PDP MP and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzzaffar Hussain Beig appreciated the view, fanatics like MLA Hakim Muhammad Yasin of the so-called Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and independent MLA Er Rashid disagreed both with the BJP and the PDP leader and stuck to their communally-motivated stand on the WP refugee issue.
The stand of Yasin and Rashid needed to be rejected by all, including the so-called champions of human rights, considering the fact that these poor and abandoned refugees have never been allowed by the anti-national forces in the Valley to exercise any civil and political rights, including the right to vote in the assembly elections, during all these 67 years of their migration to parts of Jammu province. They and the likes of Syed Ali Shah Geelani have been opposing the suggestion that these refugees be granted permanent residency status ever since the joint parliamentary committee of the Union Home Ministry put forth this suggestion in the first week of January this year.
Interestingly, Beig on Saturday took a stand different from the one taken by extremists like Geelani, Yasin and Rashid. Appreciating the problems being faced by the refugees from West Pakistan since 1947, Beig candidly asked two questions. What he reportedly said read like "There are many Bangladeshi Muslims settled in India. At the same time, there are many Muslims living in (the) United States, should they be kicked out? Why our hearts cried when scores of Muslims were killed in Burma. After 9/11 that left many people dead, why didn't US government ask Muslims to leave the country?" Not just this, he further said: "If Pakistan agrees to give the WPRs citizenship rights, the problem would be over. But this seems impossible. Will Pakistan agree to this, I believe no…So under these circumstances, what is the solution? There has to be some middle path keeping in view the J&K's Constitution and international humanitarian laws and human rights".
However, what was highly significant was his advice to those opposing the recommendation. He asked them to understand Quran before opposing the recommendation. "As Muslims, we need to understand what Quran and the Sunnah says about the issue. According to our faith, God says all human beings have inherited this earth. There is no mention of citizenship. There is talk of Arab-o-Ajam in Islam, so who is Arab and who is Ajam, in Islam all are equal…We need to understand this issue in accordance to human rights," Beig was quoted as saying. As for the claims made by the separatists and extremists in Kashmir that grant of citizenship rights to the West Pakistan refugees would alter the state's the state's demography, he without mincing words said: "Many non-state residents have settled in the State since 1950. Even when Syed Ali Geelani was the member of Legislative Assembly, many outsiders settled in the State. During the respective regime of National Conference and also that of Congress, many outsiders settled in J&K…What I believe is that once we understand the issue, we will have a solution as well".
Beig did refer to the J&K Constitution, but he made his stand on the issue loud and clear. His stand was that the refugees from West Pakistan do deserve attention. The very fact that he asked the Muslims to understand Quran and talked about a middle path solution to resolve the issue clearly indicated an appreciable change in his attitude and suggested that things may further improve in the days to come as far as the West Pakistan refugee issue is concerned. All in all, it can be said that Beig has, like the BJP leaders, consider the West Pakistan refugee issue as humanitarian and it is a positive development. |
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