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| Article 370 is the root cause of all problems in Jammu & Kashmir | | WP refugees' struggle for citizenship rights | | Neha
JAMMU, Dec 17: Refugees from West Pakistan - mostly Dalits -- on Monday once again held a massive demonstration and took an extreme step to block traffic on the Tawi Bridge to put pressure on the NC-Congress-led insensitive, biased and communal dispensation so that it grants them all the citizenship rights which are available to all the Indians, without any exception. They are so fed up with the State Government and the Congress-led UPA Government, which is known for its appeasement policy and vote-bank bank politics, that these abandoned and hapless refugees are castigating the authorities almost everyday and accusing them of making their live a veritable hell on earth.
It is a criminal act on the part of the authorities not to grant them citizenship rights to enable them to lead a dignified life as Indian citizens. West Pakistani Refugees Action Committee (WPRAC) president Labha Ram Gandhi was right when he lambasted the authorities and bemoaned the migration of non-Muslims to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 to escape their persecution at the hands of radical Islamists and votaries of two-nation theory.
While addressing the rally of abandoned refugees, Labha Ram Gandhi said that "these people had migrated from West Pakistan during the Partition in 1947 and settled in the border districts of the Jammu region, but have not been considered State subjects of Jammu and Kashmir so far and are being deprived of all fundamental constitution, legal and statutory rights in the State". He only spoke the truth.
Labha Ram Gandhi also spoke the truth when he said that the "Supreme Court in 1987 had asked the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to amend the constitution and give constitutional rights to these refugees". "It is ironical that even after more than 25 years, no steps had been taken by the successive State Governments to give the refugees their rights. There is a mechanism in the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution to grant permanent citizenship rights to the West Pakistan refugees," he said and appealed to all political parties of the state to "remove all legal disabilities which have caused difficulties for the West Pakistan refugees in the state and consider a one-time settlement for them as proposed by the Government".
It is difficult to say that what these refugees did on Monday would move the authorities in the State and at the Centre. The reason is that their elements in the political establishment in Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi who are vehemently opposed to the demand seeking citizenship rights for the WP refugees. And the instrument that they use to deny them their fundamental rights is the pernicious Article 370. It bears recalling that the Supreme Court of India while disposing of the writ of the WP refugees had said that it was unable to consider their petition in view of the special status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed and that it had given directions both to the State Government and the Union Government to take appropriate measures to meet their demands. The Supreme Court had said that their demand was constitutional and genuine that needed to be conceded.
The BJP, BSP, JKNPP, Jammu State Morcha and several other similar political organizations, which are quite active in Jammu province, do make a valid point when they demand abrogation of Article 370, saying it is the root cause of all the problems facing the nation in Jammu and Kashmir, as also facing the various sections of society, including the WP refugees, in the state. If the people of the state, including Muslims whose sentiments are being exploited by the vested interests in the community, are to enjoy all the rights available under the Indian Constitution, they have to come together and fight as one man to achieve them. And the only option left for them is to ensure that Article 370 goes lock, stock and barrel. There is no other option available. |
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