The authorities need to script a final solution for Kashmir’s long suffering refugee population, says OP SHARMA
The Union Government must urgently address the long pending problem of large chunks of our population in Jammu & Kashmir that were unsettled during the conflicts of 1947, 1965 and 1971 and the proxy cross-border wars of recent years. These uprooted families are still suffering. Even after long years, they are not fully rehabilitated and permanently settled. A generation of such unfortunate families has faced the hardship of being in a unsettled conditions.
The refugee issue has been raised in the State legislature and Parliament. Successive Governments have made promises too but no permanent settlement has been initiated. The refugees too have been raising their voice and trying to drawing the attention of the Government. Giving due rights to the West Pakistan refugees on humanitarian grounds is essential. The issue of re-settlement of Kashmiri Pandits also has to be tackled keeping in mind the dignity of the community and the security situation in he State. The present regimes in the State and Centre had committed during the elections to providing a fair deal to all of them.
The West Pakistan refugees, already residing in Jammu & Kashmir for over 68 years, have the right of franchise in Parliamentary elections but are denied voting rights in J&K Assembly elections. This needs to change. Giving them full voting rights is a must-do task for the State Government as well as the Central regime.
According to the official sources, the refugees of 1947 from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir number 31,619; during the 1965 India-Pak conflict 4,061 families were displaced; and in the 1971 war, the number of refugees were 9,442.
The State Government is contemplating their final settlement in close cooperation and coordination with the Centre. The issue is on the agenda of the ruling coalition of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. A detailed package is reportedly being worked out.
The Centre has promised that Kashmiri Pandits will return to the Kashmir valley, from where they migrated due to the rise of militancy and turbulent conditions over 25 years ago. The Pandits are the original residents of the Kashmir valley. Even the majority of Muslim community and various political leaders have welcomed the return of the Kashmiri Pandits to the Kashmir valley.
The Centre, in close cooperation with the Government of Mufti Mohammed Saeed, should work out a plan for the safe and dignified return of the Pandits. A total of 41,717 families — comprising of 37,128 Hindus, 2,246 Muslims, 1,738 Sikhs and five others — left their hearths and homes in 1990, after the onset of militancy in the Kashmir valley. There were a total of 1,49,138 persons registered by the Relief Organisation, Jammu, and also 21,333 families in different places of the country.
Most of them were Kashmiri Pandits. Others were Muslims and Sikhs. They had fled due to potential threats to their lives, honour and property. The people of Jammu had given them shelter and much support. Most were housed in camps in Jammu and Udhampur while some others got settled in rest of the country. The Government, while providing them relief, also assured them of their return to the Kashmir valley with due safety and dignity.
Since then, the Government has been providing the migrants, cash relief and ration. For accommodation, a township has been built at Jatti on the outskirts of Jammu for settlement of some Kashmiri migrants. Various organisations of Kashmir migrants have been demanding re-settlement. Some like Panun Kashmir have asked for a separate homeland in Kashmir. The Government has also given the Pandits reserved seats in professional and other educational institutions.
Some separatists outfits have opposed the settlement of Kashmiri Pandits and expressed apprehensions about security. Such outfits have resorted to protests and organised hartals in Kashmir. Pakistan has also objected to the returning home of the Kashmiri Pandits as violative of the United Nations’ resolution and as an Indian attempt at demographic change.
But rightly Union Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims and Sikhs are an integral part of Kashmir and have every right to return to their homes. The Supreme Court has also directed that migrants of Jammu region, uprooted due to militancy, must be provided adequate facilities on the pattern of Kashmiri migrants, but the State administration has not decided over this matter so far.
The Governments at the Centre and State have to finalise settlement plan for the refugees without further loss of time. These refugees have suffered for over six decades and must be provided relief now. The Mufti has held out a commitment a number of times and re-settlement has been in the manifestos of the PDP, the BJP and almost all other political parties. Now, this critical matter must be settled once and for all.
(The writer is a Jammu-based journalist)