NC reserves comments for Omar, Cong says its a human issue Valley clamor against refugees rights Arun Singh Early Times Report Jammu, Jan 12: While the clamor in valley generates great furor over the rights of the refugees which the valley based separatists as well the main stream political leaders have been advocating likely to make dent in the demography of the state, this has received a backlash from the Jammu based refugees leaders. Though the mainstream political leaders in Jammu too join the fray in saying that refugees rights are their bonafide rights and the human issue, some have kept their comments reserved for a while until their party leaders do not come up with a statement on the issue. Our leader has been in London and today only he has landed in the state. We can issue the statement only after consulting our leader, said Ajay Sadhotra, NC leader saying that after consultation with its NC leader Omar Abdullah only, the statement on such a contentious issue can be made. Omar Abdullah who resigned as the care-taker chief minister recently was in London attending his ailing father and has landed in the state today only. It is pertinent to mention here that the NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar too had joined the chorus in the valley saying that inclusion of refugees settlement. NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, advocating the separatist leaders, said the panels recommendations as a conspiracy aimed at changing the demography of the state and its special status. Different parliamentary committees have suggested many things in the past, like the return of the power projects to J&K, restoration of autonomy and revoking the black laws like AFSPA from the state. But all the governments at the Centre binned these recommendations, Sagar said. Now that another parliamentary panel has made recommendations for settling West Pakistan refugees and giving them the citizenship and voting rights, the central government seems to be in a hurry to make this happen as soon as possible. We can smell a rat in these recommendations, he added. He said conspiracies like these were even hatched in 2008, when there were attempts to transfer land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which was a dangerous attempt to fiddle with special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Congress however, which have been advocating the claim of the refugees since long and when it was in power in Jammu and Kashmir said that it was not silent on the issue . This is a human cause and it should be looked into clinically. We have been pursuing the cause of the refugees settlement when we were in the power and still hold the opinion that the refugees cause should be settled amicably, said Ravinder Sharma , Congress spokesman while talking to Early Times . He said that its erstwhile former revenue minister Raman Bhalla had come clear on this issue and the same has been cleared in the media even. Raman Bhalla had said that providing citizenship rights to the West Pakistani refugees and one time settlement package to all type of DPs including Chhamb and POJK displaced persons is human issue. Congress is committed for providing all the rights to the refugees and it has already done a lot for mitigating their sufferings. He said those people who are against the rights of refugees are not doing good service to the humanity. They should stop behaving like this. They should not try to disturb the peace in the State and create communal divide by resorting to such remarks. Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) president and MLA Langate, Er Rashid January 8 had castigated central government over its proposed move to grant incentives and citizenship rights to refugees of West Pakistan and warned BJP of dire consequences if such anti-Kashmir moves are carried ahead and urged upon BJP to refrain from such steps. In a statement Rashid had said that central government has innovated such package for the refugees of West Pakistan that it will disturb not just mainstream and Hurriyat but also politics of a layman. Meanwhile, PoK Displaced Persons association has accused Kashmir separatist and main stream politicians of misleading the Kashmiri people on the issue of refugees settlement It said that it is not only the case of one refugee clan like POJK or West Pakistan refugees or displaced person from Chammb but all the refugees who are living as displaced persons from Pakistan in Jammu region whose rights get hurt by the statement made by Er Rashid or Asiya Andrabi It is only 70,000 people who are total refugees from Pakistan in Jammu region about whom the government of India is talking about, but the valley separatists and even the main stream politicians are mixing up the issue with those displaced from Valley also and misguiding the people of the valley, said SOS chairman adding that valley leaders are projecting a wrong number of 12 lakh people which is a false number He questioned as to how a meager number of 70,000 people can change the demography of the state. He was speaking on behalf of all Pakistan displaced refugees who migrated from Pakistan in 1947, 65 and 71 and are putting up at various places in Jammu in very pitiable conditions.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:40:10 +0000
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