This refers to the article, “India's forgotten nationals” (July 22) by Hari Om. The writer has lucidly stated the facts which very few knew about. It is really shocking to learn that, while the Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah-led Government in the State granted citizenship rights to numerous Uyghur Muslim families in 1952 and the Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad Government accorded the same benefits to the Tibetan Muslim families that escaped China's wrath in 1959, Hindu refugees from West Pakistan have been denied those same rights and they continue to languish as ‘stateless citizens' and live a life of deprivation.
Worse, it seems that the ruling National Conference-Congress-led Government in the State is only interested in rehabilitating the so-called ‘reformed' terrorists, who had crossed over to the neighbouring country for training in arms to unleash terror in the Indian state. Kudos to the writer for giving the readers an insight into the ground realities in that beleaguered State and the plight of Hindu minorities especially the Kashmiri Pandits who have been forced to live like refugees in their own land.