Denied Refugee Status, Displaced Persons From The Other Kashmir Await Justice Since 1947

But seemingly, his words failed to excite the displaced families from POJK that came to Jammu after Pakistan Army regulars and tribal raiders invaded Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in October 1947.  

The oft-repeated promise has kept them deprived of their existential status 바카라� whether they are 바카라�Refugees바카라� or 바카라�Internally Displaced Persons바카라� due to official indecision amid ongoing border disputes between the two countries. Consequently, the displaced families have been denied financial compensation for the loss of land and property that they left behind across the Line of Control (LoC) 바카라� a de-facto border that divides J&K between India and Pakistan besides several other entitlements.

바카라�Successive governments told us that POJK territory will be retrieved and the Displaced Persons (DPs) will be sent back to their homes,바카라� says Colonel Tawinderjit Singh Modi (retired), who is going to turn 80 next month.

Modis were one of the 26,319 displaced families that took refuge in Jammu soon after Sikhs and Hindus were either killed or driven out of Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Bhimber, Kotli, Bagh and Rawalakot, areas that constitute the POJK.

 

Modi has vivid memories of his childhood that he spent in his native village Dadyal in Mirpur, which is about 200 km from Lahore. Sitting at his Gandhi Nagar home in Jammu, Modi tells Outlook, 바카라�Our family elders would ride horses to survey the farms 바카라� which were cultivated by the local Muslim farmhands.바카라�

Claiming that his family had a huge sum of money deposited in the Rawalpindi branch of Punjab-Lahore Bank, he says, the family lost that amount too following their displacement.

At the time of the Partition, Modi adds, 바카라�Maharaja Hari Singh had given us instructions that Jammu and Kashmir will be an independent country regardless of India and Pakistan.바카라�
 

Neither here nor there

On February 22, 1994, the Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution that the entire J&K, POJK included, has been, is and shall be an integral part of India.

바카라�We have consistently called upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal and forcible occupation, and to put an end to the human rights violations and desist from continued attempts to bring material change in these territories,바카라� the Union Ministry of External Affairs told the Parliament on March 11, 2020, through a written reply.

The fresh maps issued by the Government of India in November 2019 following revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, showed POJK is part of the newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, while Gilgit-Baltistan is in the UT of Ladakh.

But the stand of previous governments was no different, according to Rajiv Chuni, who runs SOS International, an organisation working for the rights of the displaced POJK families.

바카라�The previous governments would tell us that the payment of financial compensation would jeopardize India바카라�s case at the United Nations,바카라� Chuni tells Outlook, adding, 바카라�Even today, the government seems to be entertaining the same old idea that if it provides compensation to the POJK DPs against the loss of their moveable and immovable properties, it would send a message that India has decided to forgo the territory.바카라�

On the abrogation of Article 370, which permitted J&K to draft its own Constitution and 35 A that prohibited non-locals from buying immovable property and seeking government jobs in the region, Chuni says, 바카라�We supported the government move as we expected that our longstanding demands will be fulfilled finally. But our situation remains the same.바카라�

Notably, the former state assembly of J&K had 24 seats reserved for the POJK. 바카라�In the assembly of the Union Territory, as per our old demand, at least one-third of the frozen seats should be considered as floating constituencies or constituencies in exile to politically empower the POJK DPs in J&K바카라�s assembly and Indian Parliament,바카라� says Chuni, citing the example of the Assembly segment of Habbakadal for which migrant Kashmiri Pandits cast votes from anywhere in India.

Accusing successive J&K governments of harbouring a religious bias against the DPs from POJK, Chuni says, 바카라�This started when thousands of the displaced families 바카라� which entered Kashmir Valley from the adjoining Muzaffarabad 바카라� were pushed towards Jammu irrespective of the fact that Kashmir was climatically more suitable to them.바카라�

According to him, apart from 26,319 POJK displaced families in Jammu, at least 5300 are settled outside J&K whereas 9500 were not registered on flimsy ground.

바카라�The registration of DPs started in 1960,바카라� he says, adding,  바카라�the government doesn바카라�t have the record regarding a total number of people from Hindu and Sikh communities who were killed in POJK in 1947.바카라�

In just Mirpur, which was attacked on November 24, Chuni says, 바카라�It is estimated that over 40,000 people 바카라� including Hindus and Sikh refugees from Pakistan who had taken refuge in Mirpur hoping they would be safe in a state ruled by a Hindu Maharaja 바카라� were massacred.바카라�

 

Camps become homes

In Jammu, the POJK displaced community observes October 22, the day Pakistan forcibly invaded J&K and captured the territory as 바카라�Black Day바카라�.

Modi remembers how his family fled Dadyal -- which sits at the border of the Pakistani Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir -- in early November 1947. Instead of going across the river Jhelum to Sialkot in adjoining Punjab or taking the roads that led to Uri via Abbottabad, the Modis chose the most treacherous route to reach Jammu. They undertook a foot journey 바카라� which would take fully four days 바카라� via Jhangar, Nowshera and then the outer Himalayan hills called Kaali Dhaar.

En route, as many as 87 people of the extended family either got killed or chose to kill themselves instead of getting brutalized at the hands of the marauding Kabaili raiders. One of his aunts was abducted by the attackers whereas others killed their young daughters and womenfolk, Modi recounts the past events as he gets choked with emotion.

 바카라�Our feet were bleeding when we reached Jammu,바카라� he says. 바카라�When my uncle 바카라� who lived a royal life back home 바카라� got the job of a cart puller in Jammu city, he had tears of joy in his eyes realizing that ultimately the family would have something to eat at the end of the day.바카라�

Eventually, Modis were allotted a house at the old city바카라�s Wazarat road by the department of Custodian Evacuee Property, Jammu. 바카라�The house belonged to a Muslim family that had either gone to Pakistan or got killed in the massacres,바카라� he says.

The majority of the DPs from POJK were allotted tents at 바카라�Refugee Camps바카라� in Bhor, Chatha, Simbal, Gadigarh, Badyal Brahmana, Keerian Gandyal and Raj Bagh on the peripheries of Jammu city.

Over the years, the camp dwellers constructed homes where they used to live in tents. The names of these places, however, continue to be addressed as Camps even in official records.

In rural areas, the displaced POJK families were allotted agricultural land that belonged to Muslims who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 amid communal tensions. In some cases, the government provided plots to them for constructing homes. 바카라�But we didn바카라�t get the ownership rights as a result of which our people can바카라�t sell the property or mortgage it to avail the bank loans,바카라� says Chuni.

Concerns and worries

Referring to 바카라�The Kashmir Files바카라� 바카라� a  recent Bollywood movie based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the nineties 바카라� Chuni, who also edits a daily, Refugee Message, says, 바카라�The entire narrative around the film is an attempt at distorting the history of J&K. Today, you will find not even a single Hindu or Sikh family in the POJK 바카라� either they have been killed or forcibly converted 바카라� whereas Pandits are still living and working in Kashmir.바카라�

바카라�We are the real victims of genocide and the Kashmir conflict. But what did the government do for us or our children?바카라� he asks.

In October 2014, the Congress and the National Conference state coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah had passed a cabinet resolution and sent it across to the Government of India. It promised an ex-gratia grant amounting to Rs 25 lakh to the 31,619 registered POJK families besides 8500 jobs for the educated unemployed youth and reservations across all the institutions of technical and higher education.

바카라�But the new government at the Centre has been providing the grants in instalments. Only half of the displaced families have received the grants so far whereas we are yet to get the benefits under other components of the package,바카라� says Chuni, describing the relief as too little too late.  바카라�The displaced families have grown into over three lakh families in just the Jammu region. And a vast majority of them has been living an impoverished life.바카라� 

While displaced persons like Modi are also yet to receive even the first instalment of the grant, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently extended the scheme up to 2026 following a lot of hue and cry. 

Chuni slams the 바카라�cumbersome바카라� formalities related to the scheme. 바카라�The government needs to implement the same method that was adopted for the disbursement of monetary relief among West Pakistani Refugees,바카라� he says, wondering why the government has been using two yardsticks for two sets of the displaced people.

With regard to those who had their accounts in the Mirpur branch of the J&K Bank, Chuni asserts, 바카라�The account holders or their legal heirs must be paid money with interest compounded from November 1947.바카라�

Demanding that the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 under which the DPs from West Punjab and East Bengal were settled permanently were settled, must also be applied in their case, Chuni emphasises, 바카라�This is the reason that the families of former prime ministers of India like Manmohan Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral besides deputy prime minister LK Advani were treated differently irrespective of the fact that all of us had to leave Pakistan under similar circumstances.바카라�

바카라�We want the government to start settling the claims of our property left behind in POJK at the present market rate without any further delay,바카라� he says, adding, 바카라�We can바카라�t wait for another 70 years.바카라�

Submerged hopes

Ironically, even if the words uttered by Union Minister Jitendra Singh turn out to be prophetic soon, Tawinderjit Singh Modi and Rajiv Chuni can바카라�t visit their ancestral homes.

During the 1971 India-Pakistan war, when Modi was a Captain with the 11 Gorkha Rifles, he got hold of a wounded Pakistani soldier, Ahmed, at village Daruchian in Mendhar sector of J&K.

While others wanted to kill him, Modi took him as a Prisoner of War. Lo and behold, Ahmed turned out to be a resident of his ancestral village Dadyal and recognized Modi as 바카라�Shahon Ka Beta바카라�.

바카라�Ahmed told me that 바카라�your village was set to submerge after the construction of Mangla Dam,바카라� recalls the retired colonel, his eyes moist with tears. 

Further, speaking about the World Bank and Asian Development Bank-funded project, Chuni adds, 바카라�Our ancestral home was in the middle of the old Mirpur city that has gone underwater completely. Whenever the level of water goes down, we get to see the pictures of the famed Raghunath temple on Facebook.바카라�