West Pakistan Refugee’s –Slaves in Free India

*West Pakistan Refugee’s –Slaves in Free India*

It was Partition time of 1947 in India; millions were crossing over to either side. It was bloody trail- thousands of innocents were killed andmany more were raped, maimed and looted. Fear, haplessness and desperationwere the companions of millions pouring into India at that time. When the
land on which they were born was declared foreign overnight by the leaders,the hapless people had to run across the borders in search of their newhomeland. They came to Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi on the Western
side and Bengal, Assam and Tripura on the East.
They were very lucky as they were received by the people and Government ofIndia as well, and were helped in rebuilding their lives.This story is not about those lucky millions; it is about some unlucky lakhswhose biggest mistake in life was to stray away a few score kilometers intoa land that is de jure an integral part of our country but de facto not.
These thousands of hapless refugees had entered Jammu & Kashmir state at the
time of Partition thinking that they were entering India. Little did they realize that it would turn out to be the worst nightmare of their lives.It has been 63 years since they have entered the State of Jammu & Kashmir after the partition of India in 1947 from district Sialkot (West Punjab) which is  now called as West Pakistan. Unlike their brother-refugees (PoK
Refugees) these unfortunate ones have still not been recognized by the stategovernment of J&K as state subjects. This is a tragedy of these people, who
have been aptly described as "Slave People of a Free Country".

*These West Pakistan Refugees, 80 per cent of whom are Scheduled Caste Hindus, number around 250,000 today, have still not been recognized as the
citizens of Jammu & Kashmir. While the other refugees from the same part of West Pakistan those went to other states of India have completely integrated as citizens. These people in Jammu & Kashmir have been left stateless even to this day. Three generations of these refugees in Jammu & Kashmir have

been denied basic human rights like:-

1)The right of Citizenship.

2) The right to employment.

3) The right to education.

4) Ownership of property and

5) Political participation in elections.

6) Reserve Category Certificates

*The West Pakistan refugees who settled in other parts of India (other than

J&K) received substantial rehabilitation packages and had opportunities torise to power like Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, these refugees on the other hand continue to live even today like ‘slave people of a free country’. Today’s situation of the West Pakistan refugees in Jammu &Kashmir is one where their future still seems bleak. Left homeless by the
State Government and with the indecisiveness of the Central Government to take corrective measures, they have been isolated. *