news details |
|
|
| "Even after 70 yrs, we are termed Pakistani": LR Gandhi | | Struggle for citizenship rights | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 9: Braving the bloodbath of partition, thousands of people, mostly Dalits, migrated from Pakistan's Sialkot to villages in Jammu hoping for a better future but after 70 years, they are knocking at the Supreme Court's door protesting denial of permanent resident status, right to education, employment and voting in Jammu and Kashmir.
The nomenclature -- West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee, 1947 -- may sound strange but their grievances are grave as they find themselves living like second class citizens in J&K despite a Supreme Court decision in 1987 in Bachan Lal Kalgotra case.
The SC had said it was for the governments, the Centre and state, to realize the genuine grievances of these refugees and grant them permanent resident status in the state to enable them vote for the state assembly and panchayat elections. Interestingly, these refugees and their progeny have been allowed to vote in Lok Sabha elections.
But what the refugees alleged is unthinkable in a modern democracy which treats an individual's rights as cardinal. The committee, through advocate Anirudh Sharma, said, "The state government granted permanent resident status to some of these West Pakistan refugees subject to the condition that they could be employed only as sweepers.
"They and their children are not allowed to hold any positions higher than these. Further, their children are not entitled to gain education in government universities or avail any scholarships to gain education."
In contrast, these refuges' children and grandchildren can vote for parliamentary elections and compete for All India Civil Services examination conducted by the Union Public Services Commission.
This means if the progeny of a refugee is successful in the All India Civil Services examination, he/she could become the chief secretary or the head of the police force in J&K, but he/she can only become a constable or a clerk in the state government if he/she decides to take employment in the state.
"The petitioner is filing the instant petition for conferring the status of permanent resident status to around 300,000 West Pakistani refugees who have been denied basic human rights like the right to employment, education, ownership of property and political participation," the committee said.
"Nearly 80 per cent of the refugees who migrated from West Pakistan to the state of J&K were from the Scheduled Caste community. A large number of refugees from West Pakistan took shelter in Kathua and Samba, though no land was allotted to them. "It is a pity that their situation has not changed at all for the past 30 years and their children and grandchildren are facing same agonies despite Bachan Lal Kalgotra judgment in 1987," the committee said.
However, it was Labha Ram Gandhi, president of West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee, 1947, who on Wednesday said "it is pity that even after 70 years of our stay in Jammu, we are called Pakistanis". He made this heart-rending statement while speaking in a seminar on Article 370 and Article 35-A, held at Jammu Club. The seminar was organized by a Delhi-based NGP, Vasudev Katumbkam. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
