Daya Sagar
Governments have not been that serious to attend to the problems of displaced persons from Pakistan occupied areas of Indian State of J&K in 1947 (PoJK DPs 1947) inspite of the fact that they are the first victims of the Pakistan aggressions and the number of PoJK DPs 1947 as on date may be not less than 2.5 times the families of the Kashmiri migrants.
Among other things the Displaced Persons from Pakistan Occupied areas of Indian State of J&K (PoJK DPs) who had objected to the 19th March 2016 notified Draft guidelines regarding disbursement of relief of Rs. 2,000 crore (Rupees two thousand crore only) sanctioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India as one time settlement of claims of Displaced Persons from Pakistan Occupied Areas of the Indian State of J&K they had also submitted that 1. From the affidavit (Schedule -II) clause -4 be deleted that says ” That this is the last/final one time settlement package and no relief will be claimed in future by my family from the State government or Govt of India”. 2. The POJK DPs who are residing outside J&K (as per J&K Government disclosures 5300 families in 1947) should also be included in the proposals 3.DPs need be paid proportionate to their properties left behind in POJK and not same amount to all.4. The left over families be registered by issuing a regular notification. But they are still agitating for redressal of their grievances.
The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs (2013) with Rajiv Pratap Rudy MP as convener that visited J&K during first week of September 2013 too had said / recommended in its report that was tabled in Parliament on 22 December 2014 that the Committee takes into account the fact that non-registered families are not given proper relief and compensation amount and was of the view that for that purpose, their fresh enumeration is necessary and that their enumeration should be done at the earliest.
The Committee had recommended in Para 3.3.1.4 that adequate steps be taken immediately to ensure official registration of Displaced Persons from PoJK in order to ensure that benefits of schemes meant for refugees and Displaced Persons reach the targeted group. In Para 3.2.7.3 The Committee said that the demands of the representatives of PoJK DP of 1947 demanding constitution of a Welfare and Relief Commission/Board for DPs of PoJK, 1947 can be attributed to the reason that the existing office meant for addressing their problems is not functioning effectively and recommended that a Welfare and Relief Commission/ Development Board with adequate infrastructure may be constituted in view of the large number of people involved and number of issues to be addressed. In para 3.2.9.3 The Committee had gone to the extent of saying that Government should give wide publicity and post on the internet the details of the name and telephone numbers of Provincial Rehabilitation Officer, Jammu, and other associated agencies/officers for extending benefits to DPs of 1947 of PoJK along with its jurisdiction and powers as well as the procedure, in simplified way, to be followed for making claims or redressal of grievances.
In Para 3.2.12.3 the committee had desired that the matters may be discussed with the representatives of PoJK DPs for solution and one nodal officer may be appointed in Delhi for granting Permanent Resident certificates to PoJK DPs living outside the State of J&K as being done for Kashmiri migrants.
A campaign may be initiated to attract more and more PoJK DPs living in other parts of the country by issuing advertisements in national dailies and the rules for applying the Permanent Resident Certificate ( PRC) may be simplified.
Among other things the demand for notifying a particular officer / nodal officer (let it be Delhi) for PRC for the convenience of PoJK DPs living in other states and one also in J&K since so far PoJK areas are neither being shown in the jurisdiction of Div Com Jammu nor Div Com Kashmir has been the most cherished demand and the government should have taken this demand as well as the recommendation / suggestion of Parliamentary sub- committee on priority but so far nothing has been done in this regard; government has not notified / fixed even the “PRO” in this regard what to talk of appointing a designated authority for that. Imagine a PoJK DP displaced from Muzaffrabad looking for PRC , whom should he / she apply ? This too shows that governments have not been that serious to attend to the problems of PoJK DPs 1947 inspite of the fact that they are the first victims of the Pakistan aggressions and their number today may be not less than 2.5 times the families of the Kashmiri migrants.
( * Daya Sagar is a Sr journalist and a social activist, can be reached at dayasagr 45@ yahoo. com).
