Displaced Person’s Bill: Govt refers it to committee

Earlier, taking part in the debate Fali S. Nariman had wondered, what was ‘‘the hurry in bringing the Bill’’ pointing to the fact that many cases were still pending. After already been passed by the LS the Bill could be referred back to the Committee, RS Deputy Chairperson K. Rehman Khan said.

The UPA government was stumped by BJP-led opposition’s preparedness for taking on the government on a Bill that sought to repeal five Acts that enabled the displaced Indians to stake their claim for compensation for their abandoned properties.

Opposition’s main argument was that it would leave lakhs of displaced people, who were fighting for compensation in lieu of their abandoned properties in Pakistan, in lurch. BJP’s Lekh Raj Bacchani, from Gujarat, said that his family, which had migrated from Pakistan in the wake of partition, was yet to receive any compensation. The members also wondered what signal it would send to homeless Kashmiri Pandits. Some members raised the problem of the refugees in J&K, whose claims were yet to be met.