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| But BJP agenda of alliance doesn't says that | | Citizenship rights to WPRs! | | Early Times Report
jammu, May 9: The other day, West Pakistan refugees' leader Labha Ram Gandhi, along with his two colleagues, met with PM Narendra Modi and discussed with him the problems the WPRs have been facing in the state since 1947-1949, as the hostile Kashmiri-dominated successive governments in J&K have refused to concede their demand for full citizenship rights. They accompanied three BJP MPs, two from the Rajya Sabha and one from the Lok Sabha. Gandhi also submitted a charter of demand to the PM. The PM assured the delegation that he would look into their demands. "After going through our charter of demands, the Prime Minister issued on-the-spot directions to his staff to initiate immediate steps which the Union Government could take on its own for us," Labha Ram Gandhi, president of the West Pakistani Refugees Action Committee (WPRAC), was quoted as saying.
"We told the Prime Minister that at the time of Partition there were 5,764 families and today, we have grown to 25,460 families. We have been living here for over six decades, but we don't have any rights. We are not citizens here. The future of our children will also be ruined," he was also quoted as saying. He also disclosed that the PM had promised "a special recruitment drive" for the WP refugees and held out a commitment that his government will make a provision that ensured their regular recruitment in paramilitary forces "in future". It needs to be pointed out that before the rise of secessionist violence in the state, there used to be a provision under which the WP refugees could seek recruitment in the central paramilitary forces, but after 1990, they were denied the opportunity as the successive governments in the state declined domicile certificates to them.
Earlier on May 4, Gandhi, along with five of his colleagues, had met with BJP national president Amit shah in Delhi for the same purpose. Amit shah had assured them that they would be granted citizenship rights within six months.
After his meetings with the PM and the BJP national president, Gandhi expressed confidence and stated that the WPRs would soon get what they deserved. It appears he has not read the PDP-BJP Agenda of Alliance. Had he read it, he would not have claimed what he claimed. The agenda of Alliance nowhere talks about citizenship rights for the WPRs. It only talks about their sustenance and livelihood. It says, the coalition government would "take measures for sustenance and livelihood of the West Pakistan refugees". In other words, the Agenda of Alliance insults the WPRs by talking about their livelihood.
Even senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, who is opposed to the demand in Jammu for the setting up of AIIMS, had on May 3 declared that state government will work towards providing sustained livelihood to refugees from West Pakistan and that it would not give them citizenship rights, as the issue didn't have any mention in the Agenda of Alliance. (Nirmal Singh had on April 24 declared that no one be allowed to "snatch AIIMS from Kashmir.) "In our Agenda of Alliance we have discussed about their livelihood because they have been living here for the past 67 years. It is the duty of the Jammu and Kashmir Government so as to make arrangements for their bread and butter. We will find it out how it will be done taking in view the laws of the State," he had said while talking to reporters in Jammu.
The confidence as exhibited by Gandhi is intriguing. It is misplaced. He should remember that the BJP has neither the will nor the capacity to challenge the Kashmiri leadership, both separatist and otherwise, which is there to scuttle their demand. They have to adopt some other means. Dependence on the BJP would only counter-productive. |
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