IB residents living in terrible times: CM

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 26

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday pitched for equal benefits to the people living along the International Border (IB) as available to those living along the Line of Control (LoC) for their sufferings were indistinguishable.

She is the first Chief Minister to have declared so publicly and has the plans to take up it with the Central government. Both residents of IB and LoC have been the victims of Pakistan shelling.

“This is the least we can do for them,” she told The Tribune on Saturday as she recalled the heart-wrenching tales that she heard from border residents on Friday when she met them. “They are living in terrible times,” she said.

Her promise to remove all hurdles that prevent the International Border residents from getting the benefits enjoyed by the LoC residents would bring them reservation in jobs, professional institutions and other such institutions. Residents of the International Border have been long been pleading that the discrimination against them be removed for they undergo similar atrocities caused by shelling from across as the LoC people. Their demands had, however, fallen on deaf ears.

Mehbooba said she would ensure that her words were translated into action.

Her promise that the border bhavans would be constructed to keep IB residents safe when border shelling starts hitting their homes, schools, work places and fields — is realistic, she insists. “There is not enough land available to meet the demand of five marlas plots or 1,350 sqft of land for each family living along the borders,” she said.

“The border bhawans will have all basic facilities, including health and education. Currently, the border migrants are lodged in schools, where such facilities are not available. And, we have to shut schools too. That is another tragedy,” she said.

Mehbooba is the first Chief Minister to visit the border residents whose lives have been affected by shelling from across the border.

The CM on Friday announced that her government would examine the demand of raising a battalion of the J&K Police comprising border youth only. She also assured the IB residents that her government would look into their demand of bringing them on a par with those of the LoC areas in terms of facilities, perks or any incentives.

She also assured the residents that steps would be taken to construct border bhawans in urban areas so that the people affected by border shelling could stay there during difficult times.