Panthers Party protests in support of refugees
JAMMU Condemning “surrender” of the coalition government over the issuance of “domicile certificates” to West Pakistan Refugees, Panthers Party activists staged a demonstration against the PDP-BJP coalition government, seeking state subject rights for WPRs on Saturday.
“It is ironic that people who voluntarily fled to Pakistan from the state in 1947 have been granted citizen rights there but the refugees of West Pakistan, who took shelter in Jammu and Kashmir,and chose India, have been left in the lurch for the last 70 years,” party chairman Harsh Dev Singh said.
“The plight and misery of refugees is clearly visible. They have not been granted perma-
› “It is ironic people who fled to Pakistan in 1947 have been granted citizen rights there but the refugees of West Pakistan, who took shelter in J&K have been left in the lurch. HARSH DEV SINGH, Panthers Party
nent resident certificates, employment and other benefits at par with other citizens of the state despite a six-decade-long stay in the state,” Singh further said.
Accusing the “unholy alliance” of making a mockery of the WPRs, Singh said that nearly one lakh refugees, mainly Hindus and Sikhs, a majority of them belonging to the Scheduled Castes, were once again being ignored.
Lambasting the Bharatiya Janata Party-Peoples’ Democratic Party combine for taking a U-turn following opposition from Kashmiri separatists, Singh further attacked the state government, saying that the “obnoxious clarification to substitute domicile certificates by identity certificates for WPRs raised eyebrows over the BJP’s silence.”
Deploring the shut down call given by the separatists in Kashmir over the issue, Singh lambasted the subversive forces for opposing the rehabilitation of West Pakistan refugees by dubbing it as “anti-Kashmir” and “anti- Muslim”.
He said that such sectarian rants had exposed the communal character of the secessionists.