J&K: Ahead of PM Modi’s visit, PoJK refugees hold protest to highlight plight

The demonstration, organized by the SOS International- a prominent organization of PoJK Displaced Persons, was led by its chairman Rajiv Chuni.

Carrying banners and placards, the demonstrators alleged that even after 70 years of independence, they were compelled to live like slaves due to non-implementation of the promises made to them by the government and redressal of their genuine grievances.

On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state, displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) held a demonstration in Jammu Saturday by stapling themselves with steel chains in a symbolic demonstration to highlight their plight and the alleged step-motherly treatment by the government.

The demonstration, organised by the SOS International- a prominent organisation of PoJK Displaced Persons, was led by its chairman Rajiv Chuni.

They demand PM Modi to fully implement the 2014 package approved by state cabinet which includes payment of Rs 25 lakh to each displaced family from PoJK and reservation to their children in professional colleges and jobs for them.

Rajiv Chuni said that after the package was forwarded to the Central Government, the PM Modi-led government in 2015 announced Rs 2,000 crore package as the first installment for displaced persons from PoJK. However, four years thereafter, it released only Rs 500 crore for payment of Rs 5.50 lakh to each family, he said. Further, Chuni said that even this money has not been fully disbursed.

He also demanded reservation of vacancies in the state assembly for them out of 24 seats already kept for areas of PoJK, threatening to intensify their agitation if the government continued to ignore the displaced families from PoJK.

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