WP refugees' struggle for rights and NC & Congress

Rustam

JAMMU, Dec 23: It was almost 65 years ago that the under-threat non-Muslims, including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, quit their homes and Hearths in Pakistan and migrated to different parts of India. Thousands of them - mostly members of the Scheduled Caste community -- migrated to Jammu region to escape the wrath of Muslim fanatics. Those who migrated to other parts of India got all the rights the other Indians had been enjoying and became full-fledged citizens of the country with some of them reaching top positions. The present Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, too, had migrated from Pakistan. He became Prime Minister in 2004 without even contesting the Lok Sabha election. (AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi appointed him as Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh is the first Indian to become Prime Minister without contesting election to the Lok Sabha. Remember, he cannot cast his vote in the Lok Sabha in case the opposition moves a motion of no-confidence against his "secular" government.)

Those who migrated to Jammu continue to lead a wretched life even after 65 years of their migration to Jammu region, part of the so-called democratic and secular Indian State. They are no more than third grade subjects. They do not have the right to own immovable property in the state. They do not have the right to obtain job under the state government. They do not have the right to avail bank loan facilities. They do not have the right to vote in the assembly election as well as elections to local bodies, including municipalities and corporations. Their sons and daughters do not have the right to acquire higher and technical education in the state-run and state-aided institutions. The fact of the matter is that the "democratic and secular" Indian State, which has been under the baneful influence of votaries of special status, has deprived the refugees from West Pakistan even of their normal civil and political rights. To be more precise, the "secular" Indian State under pressure from the regressive forces in Kashmir has been violating the human rights of these hounded out and persecuted refugees ever since their migration to Jammu. All the efforts put in by these refugees during all these years to obtain normal citizenship rights have gone down the drain, as the Kashmiri leadership and its handful of supporters in Jammu have vehemently opposed their demand.

Only the other day, the additional general secretary of the pro-autonomy or pro-semi-independence National Conference (NC), which has been invariably dubbing as "communal" the parties like People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposed tooth and nail the secular and democratic demand of the West Pakistan refugees. "We will oppose the settlement of West Pakistan refugees in J&K tooth and nail. The move will cause a major damage to the Article 370 and the Constitution of J&K," Mustafa Kamaal told a local daily. He also reportedly said that the "law that disallows the settlement of West Pakistan refugees was enacted by the then Maharaja of J&K Hari Singh at the behest of Kashmiri Pandits" and the same could not be amended and violated. "The law has logic as we can't allow non-state subjects to settle in J&K. If they are allowed to live here, they will buy properties, including land, which is in violation of our constitution," he, in fact, said conveniently forgetting that thousands of Kashmiri Muslims, besides Hindus, have settled in other parts of the country enjoying all the rights, including the right to vote, service and immovable property. Kamaal made these out-and-out outrageous and communal statements in response to some reports in the media that certain Jammu-based Congress leaders had three-four days ago lobbied in New Delhi with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister on behalf of these hapless refugees. He shamelessly accused the Jammu-based Congress leaders of raking up the issue for "vote-bank politics aimed at weakening the State Constitution".

It was not only Mustafa Kamaal who opposed tooth and nail the refugees' demand. Even JKPCC president and former NC leader Saif-ud-Din Soz did not take a clear stand on the issue of great import as far as the future of these refugees was concerned when asked by a correspondent of a local daily. "The refugees have to be rehabilitated as per the rules of the both governments," he was reported as saying, thus leaving none in any doubt that he doesn't really share the view of those from Jammu who sought "living rights" for these refugees. The fact that he referred to the State Constitution was a clear indication that he only shared the views of the NC, which he served for years and that his stand was no different from the stand of other Kashmiri leaders on the issue.

Source: http://earlytimesnews.com/newsdet.aspx?q=102644