STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Ahead of the beginning Budget Session starting from the first week of January 2017, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has virtually hardened its stand over the issue of ‘identity certificates’ to West Pakistan Refugees for the purpose of recruitment in the central paramilitary and armed forces.
The party has decided to take on the combined Opposition on the floor of the State Assembly and expose the real face of the political parties, who were dead against addressing the humanitarian issue of West Pakistan Refugees.
Speaking to STATE TIMES, BJP State General Secretary (Organisation) Ashok Kaul made it clear that it is just a beginning.
“Our party is committed to ameliorate the lot of West Pakistan Refugees by providing them reservation in recruitment in central para military forces and five IRP battalions in the state”.
He said BJP has fulfilled their long pending demand for issuance of identity certificates to enable their children to appear for the recruitment tests of central para military and Indian armed forces for the same purpose.
Kaul said once these children will start shouldering burden of their families, who spent their life-time in the struggle to earn their citizenship rights, they will settle down, leaving behind the dark past.
Referring to the stand of the BJP towards their demands, Ashok Koul said, BJP is fully committed to fulfill its promise listed in the Agenda of Alliance. He said, “We have to work together with our alliance partner to achieve our goal of taking measures for sustenance and livelihood of West Pakistan Refugees”.
Kaul said it is very unfortunate that all these years the West Pakistan Refugees were struggling and no political party, who ruled in the State and the Centre took note of their grievances and ignored them.
“They treated them shabbily and now the BJP led Union Government in consultation with the BJP-PDP alliance government in the State has taken the first step towards empowering them and issued them identity certificates”, he added.
Kaul said West Pakistan Refugees had every right to stake claim on citizenship like other residents of the state.
He also made it clear that the granting of rights to WPRs was purely a humanitarian issue and some political parties were spreading canards and misleading common Kashmiris by instilling fear of changing demography of the region.
Hitting out at political parties, which allowed foreign nationals to settle down in illegal colonies on the outskirts of Jammu, Kaul said these political leaders had never raised their voice against Bangladesh national and Rohingaya refugees from Myanmar but were crying hoarse over issuing identity certificates to west Pakistan Refugees.
