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| Congress wants jobs for refugees from WP outside J&K | | Another Committee | | Neha
Jammu, Aug 23: Committee after committee after committee but the refugees' night of discontent and despair has not drawn to its close even after 65 years of their stay in Jammu Pradesh. I am referring to the plight of the over one Lakh refugees from West Pakistan, all non-Muslims and mostly members of depressed classes. They had crossed over to Jammu in 1947 in the wake of the communal partition of India and the emergence of Muslim Pakistan. They crossed over to Jammu hoping that they would be treated by the Jammu and Kashmir Government the way other refugees from Pakistan were to be treated by the Government of India. Remember, the Government of India had given all citizenship rights to all those who migrated from the newly-created Islamic State of Pakistan to India to escape their physical liquidation and save their honour and dignity. Some of those who had migrated from Pakistan to India and rose to very high positions in the country include Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, BJP MP and former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani, former Union Ministers Jag Mohan and Arun Shourie, senior journalist and former High Commissioner Kuldip Nayar and present Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra.
As for the refugees from West Pakistan who crossed over to Jammu in 1947, they have been struggling ever since then to obtain citizenship rights, including the right to own immovable property, right to obtain jobs under the State Government, right to vote in the Assembly elections, right to participate in the local bodies' elections, right to contest elections, right to higher and technical education, right to bank loan and so on, but with no result. They have held umpteen protest demonstrations in Jammu and Delhi, but the authorities in the State and at the Centre remained unmoved. They have organized several marches from Jammu to Delhi hoping that the authorities would listen to their woeful tales and mitigate their hardships and problems, but all their efforts have gone down the drain. They have made several attempts to gherao the Civil Secretariat in Jammu hoping that the authorities in the State would take cognizance of their miserable plight and undertake measures aimed at redressing their grievances, but with no result. On the contrary, they faced the official wrath a number of times.
It was not only the Kashmiri leadership which opposed the refugees' demand on the ground that the grant of citizenship rights to these refugees would change the demographic character of the State and enhance Jammu's representation in the State Legislature and on the ground that the grant of citizenship rights to these refugees would erode the identity of the State and undermine its special status. The State Congress leadership and other Jammu-based law-makers belonging to parties like the NC also joined hands with the Kashmiri leadership to hit these refugees below the belt and keep the State aloof from the mainstream politics. Of course, the State Government and the Central Government appointed a few committees to look into the demands of these refugees as well as other refugees, but none of the committees endorsed the demand of the refugees from West Pakistan. The Prime Minister's Working Groups and the New Delhi-appointed interlocutors did not suggest anything for these hapless refugees and other refugees, including the refugees from POJK. The committees appointed by the State Government from time to time also treated these refugees shabbily. In fact, they considered them unworthy of any citizenship right.
Yesterday, a Congress delegation from the State comprising the JKPCC president and a couple of Congress Ministers, plus one Congress MP, one Congress MLC and a former Minister, all belonging to the Soz camp, met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC president Sonia Gandhi Union and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and discussed with them the issues facing the refugees from West Pakistan, POJK and Chhamb. The delegation did tell the Central leadership that the refugees from West Pakistan do not enjoy the right to own immovable property or obtain Government jobs in the State, but asked them to reserve jobs for them in the Central services. They should be provided reservation in the Central Government jobs and other relaxations should also be given to them, they told the Central leadership.
What was the response of the Central leadership? The Central Government decided to constitute a high level committee to look into the demands of refugees from POJK, West Pakistan and Chhamb and suggest measures which could address the refugee issue on a permanent basis. Nothing is going to happen. This committee would do what other committees did under the baneful influence of the Kashmiri leadership and its henchmen in Jammu. It would not be out of place to mention here that the authorities can tackle the problems of the refugees from POJK in no time. It only requires money to tackle their problem. These refugees are not demanding citizenship rights as they are State Subjects; they are demanding adequate compensation. But you cannot resolve the issue facing the refugees from West Pakistan. They want citizenship rights and they can obtain these rights only if the State Constitution is amended, which is not going to happen. The Congress leadership in the State knows it. The very fact that it asked the Central leadership to reserve jobs for the refugees from West Pakistan should clinch the whole issue and establish that its attitude is no different from that of the NC and similar other Kashmir-based political outfits. It's time to call the Congress's bluff. |
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