Splitting J&K meant nothing to the displaced

Srinagar: The wounds of losing their loved ones and leaving behind their properties in the lanes and bylanes of Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli and other areas which now fall in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) are still fresh.

Tales of their great escape and how they cheated death from the brutal Pashtun tribal militias of Pakistan and other Pakistani irregular forces who were raping women, butchering men and children and burning down their houses is well known all over Jammu and Kashmir. To many who witnessed the death and destruction on those dark days of 1947, the memories still send shivers down the spine and most of them are still alive to tell the gory tales.

But for the last 70 years, successive governments, both at the state and the Centre, have only given them assurances — sometimes of taking back PoK from Pakistan or doing everything possible for them — which never translated into action. Therefore, when the whole country was celebrating scrapping of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories, the residents of what used to be Maharaja Hari Singh’s Jammu and Kashmir (pre-1947), had nothing to cheer about.

On a day defence minister Rajnath Singh asserted that talks with Pakistan will now be only on PoK, it did not bring much cheer among the 13 lakh displaced people of whom 10 lakh reside in J&K while the remaining three lakh are spread across New Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal among other states, as they feel that mere lip service is not helping.

“For the last 70 years, we have been begging before the state and Central governments to give us the status of either refugees or internally displaced persons as the PoK has always been an integral part of India. Due to the neglect of successive governments, nearly 80 per cent of the displaced people of PoK are living in pathetic conditions, doing petty jobs like scavenging or working as daily labourers. This is because no government came forward to help them,” says Mr Rajiv Chuni, chairman of SOS International, an organisation of displaced people from PoK.

A prominent face in the community,  Mr Chuni, who is based in Jammu, told Deccan Chronicle that it is high time that the Centre decides to hold elections to at least eight of the 24 seats that lie vacant ever since Pakistani forces and irregulars took control of a part of J&K after the first Kashmir war in 1947-48.  Even till date, out of 111 seats of the J&K Assembly, elections are held to only 87 seats and 24 segments which fall in PoK are left vacant.

“Our contention is that we are 13 lakh from different parts of PoK. At least one-third of the 24 seats (eight seats) be opened and reserved for us and fill those seats with PoK representatives. This will politically empower the community which has no representation either in the Assembly or Parliament. I even approached the Election Commission of India last year and met chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat who wrote to the Centre and state on this issue. But so far nothing positive has happened,” says Mr Chuni.

All political parties talk about welfare of Kashmiri Pandits because they form an important vote bank. “We also vote but what is the point when we are not treated on par with other citizens and seen like foreigners? Like all other Indians, we too are part of the country. All we are asking for is to recognise us as internally displaced persons ore refugees and extend benefits to our people, a majority of whom are below the poverty line and living in pathetic conditions.”

He says that scrapping of Article 370 for J&K meant nothing to them as neither did they benefit from it nor did they lose anything. “We were hoping that there would be some announcement made for the displaced persons from PoK when home minister Amit Shah made the announcement. Though it is good that some discussion is going on, nothing concrete is happening,” he says.

Unlike the Kashmiri Pandits who get several benefits from the state and the Centre like reservations in educational institutions and other financial benefits, the displaced persons of PoK get no such benefits. “The Centre does not want to recognise us as refugees nor as internally displaced persons. Over the last 70 years, it feels as if we are misplaced persons. We are the residents of Maharaja Hari Singh’s J&K and we were state subjects. After accession of J&K to India, we automatically become the subjects of India,” he says.