Ahead of the Supreme Court-stipulated September 30 deadline for holding the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the J&K government, in a significant decision, has granted proprietary rights to the West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) as well as the 1965 India-Pakistan war displaced on “state land” in the Union Territory on which their ancestors were settled by the then state government several decades ago. The decision was taken by the Administrative Council, which met in Srinagar Tuesday under the chairmanship of J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. The meeting was attended by J&K government advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, chief secretary Atal Dulloo and the LG’s principal secretary Mandeep K Bhandari. The government's move ends over seven-decade-long “discrimination” with the “displaced persons from West Pakistan’’ as they too have been granted proprietary rights on state land as has been the case with people displaced from the areas of Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), officials said, adding that it would “empower” thousands of the WPR families settled across the Jammu region. “The decision fulfils demands of all connected families, which have been requesting for ownership rights for past so many decades. Vesting of proprietary rights to West Pakistan displaced persons on state land would bring them on par with the displaced persons of POJK and their long-pending demand will also be fulfilled,’’ an official spokesperson said. The Administrative Council also approved conferment of proprietary rights over state land on the 1965 displaced persons. The spokesperson said the government has always remained committed to providing benefits to the 1965 displaced like it has granted to the displaced of the India-Pakistan wars of 1947 and 1971, adding that the Revenue Department would ensure that proper safeguards are built in the operational guidelines to prevent any misuse, such as any unauthorised encroachments on the state land. The WPR families, who were considered “non-state subject” in view of their not being residents of the then Indian princely state of J&K at the time of 1947 Partition and as such had no right to cast vote in the elections, were given the domicile status and voting right by the Government of India in the wake of the August 5, 2019 abrogation of Article 370. In contrast, the 1965 war displaced from Chhamb were permanent J&K residents with the rights to own land, get government jobs and vote in the elections. However, the WPRs, mostly from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), and the 1965 displaced were yet to get ownership rights on the land on which their ancestors were settled in areas along the international border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts in the Jammu region. Some observers have noted that the government's move has come in the wake of a decline in the ruling BJP’s vote share in the Hindu-dominated areas in both Jammu and Udhampur constituencies in the recent Lok Sabha elections. They point out that although the BJP won from both Jammu and Udhampur for the third consecutive time, its vote share in these seats registered a fall of 4.6 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively in the 2024 polls as compared to the 2019 poll figures. The upcoming Assembly elections would be a tougher challenge for the BJP as various local factors and issues would then come into play, the observers said, adding that the government's move is aimed at wooing an estimated total of about 30,000 families of the WPRs and 1965 displaced, who belong to the Hindu community. A total of 5,764 families, according to official records, had come to J&K from West Pakistan during the 1947 Partition. They were then allotted 4 acres agricultural land per family and settled in the districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua. Their numbers, at present, have swelled to 22,170 families. The number of the 1965 displaced is reported to be around 7,000-8,000 families. According to Labha Ram Gandhi, a prominent WPR leader, only 20 per cent of the WPR families had got agricultural land. In this connection, he pointed out that a total of 46,666 kanals (equivalent to 5,833.25 acres) of land at the rate of 4 acres each family was allotted to them on arrival from West Pakistan. Gandhi, who hailed the government’s move, however, said that only 50 per cent of this land was state land and the remaining was “evacuee land” as the same belonged to local Muslim residents of J&K who had migrated to Pakistan in the wake of the Partition. The administration should also clear its stand on the evacuee land, which has been under the possession of the WPRs, he added. Earlier, the Centre had on June 13, 2018 implemented a scheme for providing one-time financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family to 5,764 WPR families. With a total outlay of Rs 317.02 crore, the government had fixed March 31, 2021 as the deadline for covering these families. However, due to non-receipt of authenticated proposals from the then J&K government, there was no disbursement of financial assistance during 2018-19 and 2019-20, making the Central government extend the scheme up to March 31, 2024. According to Labha Ram Gandhi, of the 5,764 WPRs registered in 1947, only 1,890 families have been provided financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh each so far. He said that he recently met the Union minister in the PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, to urge him to expedite the disbursement of financial assistance among the remaining WPR families.
