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| Refugee Problem: Long way to go | | | MINCING NO WORDS
NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 5: Prime Minister Monmohan Singh did exceedingly well on Friday, when he acknowledged in Jammu in clear terms that the refugees from West Pakistan and POJK had been facing problems towards which the government will pay attention. He described their problems as “residual” and admitted that his 2008 economic package of Rs 50 crore has failed to mitigate their problems and hardship.” “I do recognize there are still residual problems on account of which they face difficulties…We have given them facilities in terms of admission of the children of such families in technical institutions; the amount that was sanctioned enabled them ameliorate the sufferings, but there are more families which need the benefits” and “ therefore the problem will have to be looked at afresh”.
It was not only the Prime Minister who shared the agony of these hapless, neglected and discriminated against refugees. J&K Revenue and Relief Minister Raman Bhalla also used the opportunity to highlight the problems being faced by these refugees. He demanded from the Prime Minister a special package of Rs 1775 crores so that the same could be used for meeting the needs and demands of the refugees of 1947, 1965 and 1971 on a permanent basis.
According to the memorandum, which was submitted by the Revenue Minister to the Prime Minister, Bhalla demanded Rs 15 lakh cash for each family of the displaced persons (DPs). In fact, he demanded Rs 750 crores for DPs of 1947, Rs 750 crore for West Pakistan refugees of 1947, Rs 225 crore for DPs of Chhamb (1965) and Rs 100 crore for the DPs of 1971. His plea was that these refugees had been struggling for justice and proper rehabilitation since decades and compensation to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to each family of displaced persons would go a long way in mitigating their hardships.
It would be seen what the Prime Minister ultimately does to compensate these refugees in financial terms. He will have to take on board the state government to achieve the stated goal – a task not that easy in the sense that the attitude of the state government towards the displaced persons settled in different parts of the Jammu province, particularly in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Udhampur districts has never been positive. This is one part of the story.
However, it is the other part of the story that needs greater consideration because it deals with the basic human rights. The case in point is the miserable plight of the refugees from West Pakistan – all non-Muslims, mostly members belonging to the depressed classes. Their number is around 1.5 lakh. It needs to be noted that these refugees have been denied their fundamental rights, including the right to property, right to education, right to bank loan, right to service under the state government, right to participate in and contest the assembly elections and the right to participate in the local-bodies elections. Their problem is far more serious.
They do need financial assistance in order to meet their day-to-day needs. But more than that, they need political empowerment and all the citizenship rights – something the Kashmiri-dominated government would never allow to happen because it believes that the grant of citizenship rights to these refugees would result in a change in the state’s demographic profile and increase the representation of Jammu province in the Legislative Assembly. These refugees would not accept anything short of a statutory measure that grants them full citizenship rights and enables them to lead a dignified life as Indian nationals. The Prime Minister will have to make the biased state government fall in line. In fact, there is no other alternative available.
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