- PoJK DPs, 1st Victim of Pak Aggression not fairly treated even in 1st Definition of Domicile of UT of J&K
- J&K Govt in 2014 wrongly excluded 5300 PoJK DP families from PM Package but GoI too upheld that in 2016
- There has been no regular Count of 1947 PoJK DPs, still Bureaucracy gives number as total 31619 families
- The 1st unsung victims of Pakistani atrocities- 1947 Displaced Families from PoJK
DAYA SAGAR
It was on 26th June 2013 that memorandum addressed to Manmohan Singh the then Prime Minister was submitted on behalf of POJK DPs by J&K Sharnarthi Action Committee through Divisional Commissioner Jammu and among other things in the said memo it was submitted < “The areas of J&K in POJK should be specifically mentioned in all future reference by the Government as jurisdictions of Divisional Commissioner Jammu & Divisional Commissioner Kashmir since these are part of J&K (since these areas are not presently referred in the jurisdictions of Divisional Commissioners ) so that the POK DPs who have to obtain State Subject Certificate / PRC ( who may not be having the same / may have lost during turmoil/ their elders may have gone for bread earning outside J&K to Delhi or elsewhere and now want the PRC) or for any of their socio-economic issue can apply to Divisional Commissioner Kashmir or Jammu for the same instead of running from pillar to post in the absence of there being any dedicated full time authority for them….”. But no favourable actions were taken. Not only that one hundred eighty third report on problems being faced by refugees and displaced persons in J&K was presented to Rajya Sabha on 22nd December, 2014 ( that was also laid on the table of Lok Sabha on 22nd December 2014) and was drawn by a sub-committee on Action Taken on 137th Report on Rehabilitation of J&K Migrants of 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 for interaction with affected people and State Government too at Para 3.2.12.3 desired that 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. The committee went to the extent of saying that rather Government may campaign 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 may be simplified; Para 3.2.1.4 says that the Committee takes into account the fact that non-registered families are not given proper relief and compensation amount and is of the view that for that purpose, their fresh enumeration is necessary to understand the problems being faced by PoJK DPs and to have updated policy guidelines for them. But no any action in that regard too worth making mention here has been taken till this day, April 2022.
Any how some hopes arose ( though belated ) when after 5th August 2019 the State of J&K was reorganised into two union territories of UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh with appointed date as 31-10-2019 ( in terms of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, Act No 34 of 2019) but It is now over 2 years even after issue of S.O 3979 of 02-11-2019 ( showing the said areas as regular part of UTs ) but still neither the POJK areas of erstwhile State of J&K are shown in the revenue jurisdictions of Div. Com ( J), Div. COM (K) and Div. Com ( L) in the related web sites of the Divisions / Descriptions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi can open the channels but the boats have to be rowed/peddled only by his colleagues below and the bureaucracy.
No doubt some reference of Displaced Persons has been made in the rules for registration of left over migrants / displaced families of J&K but in the Rules for issue of Domicile of J&K ( S.O 166 of 18-05-2020 ) there is no direct reference of POJK DPs ( left over / who could not get issued PRC) as a category for obtaining Domicile certificate. Hence even the Rules for issue of Domicile of UT needed to be recast so as to remove the doubts & incomplete descriptions as regards the “displaced persons” from areas of J&K state illegally occupied by Pakistan in 1947 and the competent authority to whom the Displaced Persons/ descendant who did not have PRC / or are staying in other Indian states could apply for issue of Domicile Certificate.
Not only that it will not be wrong in case some of these families allege that in a way their fair/ legitimate right of being subjects of J&K had also been snatched while first drawing the definition of Domicile of UT of J&K under S.O.1229 (E ) of 31-03-2020 ( definition of Domicile for UT of Ladakh has not been drawn yet ).
(The author is a Sr Journalist / Analyst Jammu & Kashmir Affairs dayasagr45@yahoo.com).