BJP takes up the cause
of WP refugees
Gandhi bemoans
ignorance of PSC
JAMMU, Aug 2: On July 30, a
very important development took place in New
Delhi. Leadership of refugees and migrants met the
members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Home Affairs and
narrated their woeful tales. The PSC is headed by former BJP national president
and MP Venkaiah Naidu and other members of the committee include LK Advani,
Lalu Parshad Yadav, Rajiv Partap Rudy, Naveen Jindal and Dr V Metray. It would
be interesting to note what chairman of West Pakistani Refugees Action
Committee (WPRAC) Labha Ram Gandhi said while reflecting on the meeting and its
significance. Talking to a senior correspondent on July 31, Labha Ram Gandhi
made startling revelations and, among other things, said: "A majority of
the PSC members were surprised when I briefed them about the plight of the stateless
West Pakistani refugees living in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947". "Intervention
of the PSC has rekindled hope among West Pakistani refugees because
representatives of almost all political parties were present during the
deliberations…The first-time elected representatives of all political parties
were informed about these refugees and they assured to take some concrete step
to solve this problem once and for all…The PSC members had sought a response
from the State Government on the issue of the refugees. Although political
parties across the country are aware of the Kashmiri migrants and PoK refugees,
they were not aware that West Pakistani refugees living in J&K…The PSC
members had admitted that denying basic fundamental rights to these refugees,
majority of them Dalits, was a glaring example of human rights violation in the
State. It is really shocking that successive State Governments have never
projected our demands before the country. Some members were shell shocked when
they were informed that despite living in J&K since 1947, West Pakistani
refugees were still being denied the right to vote for Assembly, panchayat as
well as urban local bodies…Except the BJP, the PSC members of other political
parties were not aware of the West Pakistani refugees," he said.
Gandhi had never been
that hopeful as he was after his meeting with the PSC members. A number of
local BJP leaders were also present when Gandhi and his colleagues narrated
their woeful tales. It needs to be underlined that the West Pakistan refugees
do not have the right to immovable property, right to Government service, right
to bank loan, right to higher technical and professional education, right to
vote in the Assembly and local-bodies' elections and so on even after 65 years
of their stay in Jammu. It must remain a matter of shame that the authorities
have denied the West Pakistan refugees their
fundamental rights or natural rights.
It bears recalling
that on July 30 Gandhi, along with the representatives of refugees from
Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), refugees from Kashmir and victims
of terrorism and communal violence affected people discussed in detail their plight
and grievances with member of PSC in New Delhi. It was an important meeting in
the sense that no less than 32 members participated in the important
deliberations. It was perhaps for the first time after 1947 that so many
members of the PSC came to know that the hapless and abandoned West Pakistani
refugees had been leading a wretched life since 1947. The credit goes to the
BJP, as it all happened owing to its initiative. The BJP ensured the
participation of representatives of West Pakistan
refugees in the crucial meeting. The development must have unnerved the local
Congress leadership, which has consistently hoodwinked and fooled the refugees
from West Pakistan.
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