Jammu, , May 31, (Scoop News)- Refugees United Front an amalgam of Displaced Persons of 1947 from PoK headed by Rajiv Chuni, Displaced Persons of 1965, 71 Camp & non-Camp from Chammb headed by Capt. Yudhvir Singh Chib and West Pakistani Refugees headed by Labha Ram Gandhi in a Press Conference has asked the Congress-National Conference alliance to immediately redress the issues of PoK refugees pending for last more than 67 years.
Addressing a press conference here today, Rajiv Chuni President of the Refugees United Front said that Congress-National Conference alliance has wasted five and half years by fake promises and not keeping its commitments. He said that refugees have demonstrated their strength by inflicting a crushing defeat on both candidates of the coalition in Jammu region by supporting the BJP candidate.
Chuni said that a proposal has already been submitted to the Chief Secretary on 24 December 2013 for further placing before the Cabinet but for last 6 months the alliance government has not deemed it proper to approve the proposal and send it to Central government for sanction. He said that proposal has three major recommendations of constituting an Apex Committee of different category of Refugees, Sanctioning Rs. 25 Lakh for each family as relief and 2 per cent reservation in professional & technical colleges throughout the Country for the wards of Refugees.
Chuni said that state government has no financial liability in this proposal but its delay in furthering the proposal has shown its apathy towards the most burning problem of Displaced Persons from PoK, Chammb and refugees from West Pakistan. He warned that if NC-Congress alliance government did not solve the issues of Displaced Persons and refugees, the Displaced Persons and refugees would teach them a lesson in the coming Assembly elections.
The refugee leader said that the humiliating defeat of the coalition candidates on all the six seats in Jammu Kashmir was the outcome of anger of people against lackluster approach of the State Government and the same treatment in Assembly polls is in offing as the ruling parties seemed to have not learnt any lesson from the public ire.
“The Front has identified 25 Assembly seats where the refugee community has dominance or can influence the results. We will field our candidates on these seats for ensuring representation to the displaced community and defeat of this coalition Government,” he said.
Informing that a delegation of the refugee leaders would soon meet Prime Minister Narinder Modi for apprising him of the step motherly treatment being meted out to them by the successive State and central Governments, Chuni hoped a positive response from the BJP Government, particularly in view of the displaced community’s support
to the party during Lok Sabha elections. The Refugee United Front had withdrawn its candidate Labba Ram Gandhi in favour of BJP from Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary seat.
Referring to fresh debate surrounding Article 370, which accords special status to Jammu Kashmir State, Chuni demanded that the controversial clause in Indian Constitution must be scrapped immediately without any debate since it has damaged more than helping masses here, particularly the refugee community. “Article 370 has helped only a handful of influential families in the State and deprived the refugee community from getting their due right under “Displaced Persons Compensation and Rehabilitation Act of 1954”, which was not applied in J&K because of this special status,” he explained.
Chuni said that when the Constitution of India recognizes only one citizenship, then why the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir enjoy double privileges in this regard one as citizen of India and other as of State. State’s own Constitution is an unfortunate by-product of Article 370. When all other States in India have a uniform structure then why a separate Constitution for Jammu and Kashmir Chuni questioned.
The provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Constitution debars right to citizenship, right to property and right to settlement particularly for West Pakistani Refugees residing here for the last 67 years, Chuni said.
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