AGENCY
NEW DELHI: Government on Tuesday initiated a slew of measures for the benefit of refugees from West Pakistan settled in Jammu and Kashmir, including a directive to Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) for recruiting them.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh requested Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also to take similar step so that West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) are recruited in the armed forces.
“The Home Minister has approved certain concessions for the WPRs settled in Jammu and Kashmir after considering the problems being faced by them.
“He has directed the heads of CAPF that such WPRs from Jammu and Kashmir, who are Indian citizens and have valid voter IDs, be considered for recruitment in the forces, including the special recruitment drives conducted in the state,” an official statement said.
The CAPFs are CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, NSG and Assam Rifles.
As of now, WPRs face difficulty to fulfil documentary evidence of residency in support of their applications as the CAPFs recruitment rules seek furnishing of Domicile Certificate (DC) from the candidates while the state government issues only voter ID with Non-Permanent Residency (NPR) status to such Indian nationals.
In his letter to the Defence Minister, Singh said similar concessions, like waiving off the condition of producing DC and other identity certificate, may be permitted in the recruitment to the armed forces.
Around 5,764 families consisting of 47,215 persons migrated from West Pakistan and got settled in different areas of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. However, they are not permanent residents of the state in terms of J&K constitution. (PTI)
