04-27-2005, 12:19 AM
Indian Kashmir Land being given away to POK residents by Mufti
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mufti resurrects resettlement ghost from PoK--- The `sleeping' Resettlement Act wily-nilly has resurrected the communal ghost for the people of Jammu and Kashmir with a bus passenger from PoK filing claims for restoration of her ancestral property recently.
Farida Ghani, a Pakistani national who was on board Srinagar-Muzaffarabad peace bus, filed her claims demanding restoration of her ancestral property which her father had left in Kashmir before moving to Pakistan!
The ball was set rolling with an over zealous Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed promtly committing his government to evicting of those occupying the evacuee properties when their former owners return.
The immediate implication of implementation of the Act, observers feel, would be that it can bring more than two lakh Pakistanis, including descendants of those who were born in that country (many with training under Taliban) into Jammu and Kashmir.
The Act provides for the resettlement of those who migrated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) between 1947 and 1950 if they choose to return to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Act had been adopted by the State Legislature in 1982 and it became a law. But to dilute criticism in various parts of the state and the Centre, it was referred to the then President for his opinion, who then referred it to the Supreme Court. For 19 years, the President's reference to the Supreme Court gathered dust untill the Bill was returned to the state in 2001.
The Chief Minister's stand has generated fear though the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Act. Political pundits here suggest that Mufti may reintroduce the Resettlement Act 1982 in the next Assembly session, if Supreme Court vacates its stay by then and is relying on the National Conference to see it through in both the Houses of the Assembly.
Suspecting Mufti Mohd Sayeed of pursuing a hidden agenda and changing the demography of the Jammu region, representatives of 12 refugee committes gathered here under the umbrella organization, the Joint Action Committee Evacuees Property occupants on Tuesday.
They leveled charges that the PDP-Congress Government is offering citizenship rights to those who are bonafide citizens of Pakistan and is going all out to secure their properties as well by keeping it under its direct charge. Those who live in Pakistan are offered citizenship, their properties are kept secured and are restored to them. If need be, their daughters continue to be the citizens of India and can claim their left over properties. While our daughters are denied rights over ancestral properties and citizenship and we still remain as aliens in our own home land, claimed agitated members.
They charged Mufti with trying to polarsie voters in Jammu region on communal lines to gain maximum advantage in the forthcoming Panchayat Elections.
The political parties, including the BJP, Congress and the Panthers Party, have started campaigning vociferously against the Act in the Jammu region.
Doubts have also been raised in the minds of the occupants what will happen to their homes once somebody from Pakistan lay claim on the property allotted to them by the Custodian Department of the Jammu and Kashmir Government. Mufti's stand has also pushed the Congress into a corner. On one hand, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma went on record saying that they will pursue scrapping of the Act while Minister of State for Home Shri Prakash Jaiswal on Monday said its implementation would start the democratic process.
Coordinator of the Joint Action Committee Evacuees Property Occupants Rajinder Kumar Sharma told The Pioneer that the National Conference
had enacted the law for the rehabilitation of those who had migrated on their own to PoK. They did not think of resettlement of refugees who had been staying in Jammu for the past 54 years.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mufti resurrects resettlement ghost from PoK--- The `sleeping' Resettlement Act wily-nilly has resurrected the communal ghost for the people of Jammu and Kashmir with a bus passenger from PoK filing claims for restoration of her ancestral property recently.
Farida Ghani, a Pakistani national who was on board Srinagar-Muzaffarabad peace bus, filed her claims demanding restoration of her ancestral property which her father had left in Kashmir before moving to Pakistan!
The ball was set rolling with an over zealous Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed promtly committing his government to evicting of those occupying the evacuee properties when their former owners return.
The immediate implication of implementation of the Act, observers feel, would be that it can bring more than two lakh Pakistanis, including descendants of those who were born in that country (many with training under Taliban) into Jammu and Kashmir.
The Act provides for the resettlement of those who migrated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) between 1947 and 1950 if they choose to return to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Act had been adopted by the State Legislature in 1982 and it became a law. But to dilute criticism in various parts of the state and the Centre, it was referred to the then President for his opinion, who then referred it to the Supreme Court. For 19 years, the President's reference to the Supreme Court gathered dust untill the Bill was returned to the state in 2001.
The Chief Minister's stand has generated fear though the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Act. Political pundits here suggest that Mufti may reintroduce the Resettlement Act 1982 in the next Assembly session, if Supreme Court vacates its stay by then and is relying on the National Conference to see it through in both the Houses of the Assembly.
Suspecting Mufti Mohd Sayeed of pursuing a hidden agenda and changing the demography of the Jammu region, representatives of 12 refugee committes gathered here under the umbrella organization, the Joint Action Committee Evacuees Property occupants on Tuesday.
They leveled charges that the PDP-Congress Government is offering citizenship rights to those who are bonafide citizens of Pakistan and is going all out to secure their properties as well by keeping it under its direct charge. Those who live in Pakistan are offered citizenship, their properties are kept secured and are restored to them. If need be, their daughters continue to be the citizens of India and can claim their left over properties. While our daughters are denied rights over ancestral properties and citizenship and we still remain as aliens in our own home land, claimed agitated members.
They charged Mufti with trying to polarsie voters in Jammu region on communal lines to gain maximum advantage in the forthcoming Panchayat Elections.
The political parties, including the BJP, Congress and the Panthers Party, have started campaigning vociferously against the Act in the Jammu region.
Doubts have also been raised in the minds of the occupants what will happen to their homes once somebody from Pakistan lay claim on the property allotted to them by the Custodian Department of the Jammu and Kashmir Government. Mufti's stand has also pushed the Congress into a corner. On one hand, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma went on record saying that they will pursue scrapping of the Act while Minister of State for Home Shri Prakash Jaiswal on Monday said its implementation would start the democratic process.
Coordinator of the Joint Action Committee Evacuees Property Occupants Rajinder Kumar Sharma told The Pioneer that the National Conference
had enacted the law for the rehabilitation of those who had migrated on their own to PoK. They did not think of resettlement of refugees who had been staying in Jammu for the past 54 years.
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