PoJK refugees seek ID cards, development board from UT
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 28
Refugees from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoJK) today urged the Union Territory administration to provide identity cards (IDs) to the displaced population living in Jammu and Kashmir and also constitute a development board to address their issues.
Hindu, Sikh families living in Jammu
- Thousands of Hindu and Sikh families, who survived the carnage of the Pakistani army in 1947, are living in Jammu. Although they are state subjects, no proper relief has been given to them.
Under the banner of the PoJK Displaced People Front, 1947, 1971 and Non-Camp, a rally was held here today to mark the 71st Republic Day.
“As India is celebrating its Republic Day, refugees who got uprooted from Deva Watala, Bhimber, Kotli, Mirpur, Muzzaffarabad, Sudhniti Nowshera, Poonch and Bagh should not be forgotten,” said Capt Yudhvir Singh (retd), president of the Front.
Singh also demanded that landless families of the PoK should be allotted land or compensation at prevailing rates. “We had lost all hope in the erstwhile J&K which has been discriminating against the refugees, but now displaced families are hopeful that justice will be done to them.”
The Front also demanded the implementation of the Joint Parliament Committee Report, which has asked the state government to address the long-pending grievances.
“For the last 70 years, thousands of people who survived the carnage in areas of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan in 1947 have been deprived of relief and rehabilitation by the NC, PDP, Congress who ruled the erstwhile state,” said Singh.
The Front also demanded that youths belonging to the displaced families be provided bank loans on subsidised interest or financial assistance from the government.
