Dr Shreeya Bakshi

The Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in its Order No: 52-JK (DMRRR) of 2020, Dated:16 May, 2020, with regard to the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act, 2010, as amended by Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020 provides that any person who is registered as a migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be eligible to be treated as a domicile for the purposes of the said act. Government of J&K is of the view that there may be other bonafied persons, displaced persons or migrants and their decendants who are not registered with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and may have been left out for a variety of reasons. Such categories of persons are now eligible for the purposes of getting domicile certificate if they fulfill the prescribed conditions as given in the order. This inclusive approach of Government of J&K is a bench mark of democracy as it ended the sufferings of those who were the victims of human right violation in J&K since decades. One such example is the case of PoJK Displaced Persons who were forced to settle outside J&K and were denied all the rights and previleges in J&K.
On the fatefull dark night of October 22, 1947, Pakistan attacked the Erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir through Poonch, Mirpur and Muzaffrabad. This was a full-fledged Pakistan’s attack under code name Operation Gulmarg led by Major Gen Akbar Khan. This vicious violent attack led to forced displacement of thousands of families of Hindus and Sikhs which resulted in separation of people from their native land, closeones and culture through physical dislocation. The families once displaced could not return to their homeland till date. The prominent places from where people were displaced included Poonch, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad, Bhimber, Kotli, Planderi, Sudhnoti, Bag, etc which are presently under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and is commonly called as Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK). These Displaced Persons (DPs) were sometimes termed as refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants, etc. but as per the United Nations Report on Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement they fall under the category of IDPs or DPs because these were displaced within the national boundaries of India. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the then Prime Minister of J&K named them as Displaced Persons vide order No. 1476-C of 1950 dated 16th of December, 1950. This war induced displacement of people in their own country was like a horrible social reality which made them destitute in no times.
After getting displaced from their place of habitual residence in PoJK they moved towards Jammu. In order to provide them initial relief and temporary shelter Government of India established two camps at Nagrota in Jammu and Yol in Kangra (Himachal Pradesh). Soon after their displacement, the Provincial Rehabilitation Office which is now called as Department of Custodian registered 31619 families of PoJK Displaced Persons.It is worth mentioning here that the number of these displaced families could be much more as many of them could not even registered themselves in that chaotic situation when they were struggling hard for their survival and safety.As per the available data, out of 31619 families, 5300 families were sent for settlement outside the state mostly in Himachal Pradesh, Dehradun, Merrut, Ambala, Delhi and Ganganagar in Rajasthan. These families of PoJK DPs settled outside Jammu and Kashmir were neglected interms of financial packages and other rehabilitation packages. The irony of the fate is that Government of J&K disowned them and kept out of the purview of any rights, grants and previleges in J&K.
Time to time when packages were announced for these DPs in 2002, 2008 and 2015, the families who were forced to move outside J&K were excluded from the benefits of these packages. The disbursement of the relief sanctioned by the Union Government for the Displaced Persons of PoJK and Chhamb(PM package, 2015) was started on December 12, 2016, but the same has been stalled due to objections raised by the BJP, which was part of the Government. The BJP leadership has demanded that the discrepancies in the list of beneficiaries should be removed. The State Government has identified 36,384 refugee families, including those from Chhamb, as beneficiaries of the package. On the list prepared by the State Government, 26,319 PoJK families were eligible for getting relief. The decision of the State Government to sanction relief to 36,384 refugee families has stirred another controversy as the BJP, which was part of the coalition, was furious over the move to “intentionally” exclude those displaced families of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) who were settled outside J&K from this much publicised package. These displaced families who were settled outside J&K uprooted from PoJK in 1947 got settled outside J&K just to earn their livelihood and this move was sheer injustice with these displaced families. Without including these families on the list of beneficiaries, the real spirit of the package would not behave been fulfilled. The displaced persons from PoJK, settled outside J&K, have the same rights as those who have been living in the state. Moreover, a large majority of PoJK DPs who had shifted to other parts of India, have practically lost their status as the ‘Permanent Residents’ of J&K. This section of the community sees feeble chances of returning to their home state. In the absence of ‘Permanent Residents Status’ they do not even qualify for elementary rights like buying property, taking up State Government jobs or voting for the State Assembly, Municipalities or even a village panchayats.
Once settled outside the State, these displaced families were permanently denied to be the part of J&K by the Government of J&K on the ground that these PoJK DPs have no substantial proof/identity that they were the permanent residents of J&K under article 35 A of the Constitution of India. As a result, they were denied all the right and privileges given to the permanent residents of J&K. But it was only recently the Government of J&K under President’s rule provided them a sigh of relief.
On July 30, 2019 the J&K State Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik in SAC Decision No. 192/19/2019 decided to submit a proposal to the Government of India for grant of one time compensation to the left out side settled displaced families of PoJK DPs of 1947, who were initially registered outside the State but later on returned settled in Jammu and Kashmir. On 9th of October, 2019, Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Inclusion of such DP families of Jammu and Kashmir who initially opted to move outside the State of Jammu and Kashmir but later on returned and settled in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, in the Rehabilitation Package approved by the Cabinet on November 31, 2016 for Displaced Families of PoJK and Chhamb under the PM’s Development Package 2015 for Jammu and Kashmir.
Government of Jammu and Kashmir on December 11, 2019, vide order No. 07-JK (DMRRR) of 2019, sanctioned the inclusion of those left-out DP families of PoJK. In respect of PoJK DPs settled in different states of country, a proposal shall be submitted to Government of India for their financial assistance under the package through the respective State Governments.
Displaced Persons of PoJK have been the first victims of post-partition disturbances. They have been suffering since their displacement to present day. Every day for them is a day of struggle and cries. Despite long struggle for their rights they feel aggrieved, neglected and discriminated by all the successive Governments. Whatever the relief and rehabilitation Government provided to these DPs was ad-hoc and insufficient and limited only to those families of DPs who settled within J&K. The recommendations of the different committees be it Wadhwa Committee or Joint Parliamentary Committee, etc. formed to study their problems and demands are not fully implemented till date. Their continuous neglect and denial of their rights have marginalized them to great extent and created strong resentment in their minds. Their voices remained unheard for decades together and they were compelled to call themselves as ‘Forgotten Community’. But now after the announcement of Domicile Rules on May, 2020, the politics of exclusion of these 5,300 displaced families ends up and finally, they also got their due share in Jammu and Kashmir as they are also the stakeholders of PoJK.It is only recently in 2019,the State and Centre Governments have developed an inclusive approach as far as the marginal and peripheral communities of J&K are concerned. It is only after abrogation of Article 35 A, the discriminated and excluded communities of Valmikis, Gorkhas, West Pak Refugees and Daughters of J&K are incorporated in J&K. And now with the Domicile Rules of 2020, the POJK DPs who were disowned by state for 73 years are now included and are considered as Bashindey of J&K.
(The author is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central University of Himachal Pradesh)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are Dr Shreeya Bakshi’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.

Courtesy: Daily Excelsior:  22nd May, 2020