The Jammu and Kashmir government has granted proprietary rights on state land to thousands of Hindu families who had migrated from Pakistan to Jammu in the wake of the 1947 Partition, offering yet another concession to them after giving them the right to buy land and get jobs in the Union Territory.
The government has also greenlighted the construction of 6,000 new transit homes for Kashmiri migrant government employees, mostly Kashmiri Pandits, as part of an initiative to incentivise their return to the Valley.
West Pakistan refugees — named after the former territory that is now known as Pakistan — have been living in Jammu, mainly in Jammu city, Kathua, Samba and Rajouri districts since 1947.
They were not entitled to state government jobs or own property because of restrictions on outsiders put by Article 370 over fears that they were a step in the direction of changing the Muslim majority character of Jammu and Kashmir.
Already granted domicile rights after the 2019 scrapping of special status, the lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha-led administrative council on Tuesday made them the owners of the land on which they have lived for decades. The meeting was attended by Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, adviser to the Jammu and Kashmir government; chief secretary Atal Dulloo and principal secretary to the LG, Mandeep K. Bhandari.
An official spokesman said they were conferred proprietary rights in addition to those families who were displaced by the 1965 war — internally relocated from border areas to interior areas. People displaced by the 1947 and 1971 wars had already availed themselves of the concession.
The spokesman called it a significant decision to end discrimination against the “displaced persons” from West Pakistan. They have been traditionally called refugees but the ruling dispensation calls them displaced persons (DPs). Many of them had got domicile rights before 2019 through the backdoor.
“This shall significantly empower thousands of families across Jammu region. It is pertinent to mention that post re-organisation in 2019, domicile rights have been conferred by the government of India to the West Pakistan displaced persons,” the spokesman said.
“The decision fulfils demands of all connected families, which have been requesting ownership rights for the past so many decades. Vesting of proprietary rights to West Pakistan displaced persons on state land would bring them on a par with the displaced persons of PoJK (Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir) and their long-pending demand will also be fulfilled”.
Labha Ram Gandhi, a prominent leader of West Pakistan refugees, said 5,764 families had come to Jammu and Kashmir from West Pakistan during the Partition and their number has since swelled to 22,170 families. They were allotted four acres of agricultural land per family and they settled in the districts of Jammu.
“The government decision will give us ownership rights over 46,666 kanals (5,833 acres) of land. This will benefit 20 per cent of families because 80 per cent of families are living on evacuee land. We hope the government will grant us proprietary rights on that land as well,” Labha Ram told The Telegraph.
Labha Ram was referring to land that was owned by Muslims in Jammu who were reportedly forced to leave the region or killed during riots in 1947.
