New Delhi, August 17
The Union Government is considering to ameliorate the misery of the Sikhs who migrated from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to Jammu and Kashmir but have not been granted refugee status, according to well-placed sources here.
Ironically for the migrant Sikh families, the Centre’s stand over the decades has been of not considering them refugees. The rationale behind the Centre’s stand is based on the premise that since PoK is a part of Jammu and Kashmir, people living there are also residents of Jammu and Kashmir and, therefore, cannot be accorded the status of refugees within their own state.
As a result of this, the migrant Sikh community has been deprived of the benefits which accrue to the people who have migrated from the valley to Jammu division. A recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has also recommended to the Centre that these migrant Sikhs should not be left to fend for themselves as they had crossed over to the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) with high hopes and a sense of belonging.
The decision to grant refugee status to the migrant Sikhs would make them eligible to avail all benefits which are available to the displaced Kashmiris.
The Kashmiri Sikh community has made the state and Central authorities known from time to time about their grievances, some of which are as following:
* Sikh families who migrated from PoK to Jammu had not been given property rights.
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No relief was being extended to these members who had migrated from PoK on the pretext that those Sikhs were the citizens of India because PoK was an Indian territory. On the other hand, the Kashmiri Pandits, who were also refugees in their own country, were being provided with relief by the state government.
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Security forces should be rotated regularly so that units deployed for counter insurgency operations did not develop any vested interests.
