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| Refugees from WP want citizenship rights, not money | | Struggle for empowerment | | Neha
JAMMU, Nov 1: Jammu province houses over 1.5 million refugees. There are refugees from POJK. There are refugees from West Pakistan. And there are Chhamb displaced persons of 1965 and 1971, besides over three lakh internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus. However, it is the refugees from West Pakistan whose plight is very miserable. They are the persons who do not have citizenship rights in Jammu & Kashmir despite their over 66 year long stay in various parts of Jammu province, especially, Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts. They had migrated to Jammu in 1947 in the wake of the communal partition of India to escape the wrath of radical Islamists.
Sources in the state revenue ministry show that it has prepared a scheme for the refugees from POJK, West Pakistan and Chhamb, which will be discussed and approved by the state cabinet after reopening of the secretariat in Jammu and if approved, would be sent to the Government of India for approval and funds. According to sources, while the revenue ministry has decided to consider the demands of the refugees which are tenable under the provisions of the state constitution, it is not willing to concede the age-old demand of the refugees from West Pakistan seeking all citizenship rights, including the right to vote, right to government service, right to own immovable property, right to higher and technical and professional education, right to bank loans and so on.
If what the sources in the revenue ministry reveal is correct, then it can be said that the state government has finally agreed for one-time settlement by giving some compensation to the refugees from the POJK and West Pakistan for the properties they left behind subject to the condition that it gets the required funds from the Government of India. As for the demand of the refugees from West Pakistan seeking citizenship rights, the sources reveal, that there is no change in its stand: No citizenship rights to them, as they are not original residents of the state. Here lies the problem. The refugees from West Pakistan want citizenship rights to lead a dignified life as Indian citizens and not rupees one or two lakh.
The state government must not treat these hapless refugees, mostly Dalits, the way it has treated thus far. They are human beings and their demands are democratic and constitutional. It is indeed shameful that the communal elements in the establishment do not consider these refugees worthy of citizenship rights which are available to all the Indians across the country, barring Jammu & Kashmir. |
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