With the distribution of cheques amounting to rupees 5.5 lakh each among families of the Displaced Persons of 1947, 1965 and 1971 under ‘Prime Minister’s Development Plan’ for POJK, the process for providing assistance to these people has officially been kicked off by BJP-PDP coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir. It was indeed a historic moment for the POJK Displaced Persons, whose three generations have perished while agitating for decades after they left their homes and hearths besides losing their family members.
In a official handout, BJP State Spokesperson Balbir Ram Rattan, said that Narendra Modi, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate in 2014 General elections, had promised to consider and fulfill the demands of the POJK displaced persons of 1947, 65 and 71. Within two years of taking over as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has kept his promise and provided rupees 2000 crore as assistance to be distributed among the affected families residing in the state.
Balbir said that it has been most unfortunate that despite ruling the country for maximum period after independence, the Congress did nothing for the welfare and development of the Displaced Persons from POJK, although assurances were given to them. He said that the long pending issue now stands resolved with the continuous efforts of the BJP as coalition partner in the state government, which had been building pressure and kept reminding the Prime Minister about the genuine demand of the DPs from POJK.
The BJP Spokesperson said that by distributing the assistance among the DPs, the government has not done any favour to them but took their pain and plight on humanitarian grounds and provided of what they had been deprived for so long.
He said that the Modi-led government at the Centre in January 2015, had given its nod to certain concessions for the refugees from West Pakistan residing in Jammu and Kashmir considering the problems faced by them. Equal employment opportunities, special recruitment drives for induction into paramilitary forces, admission for the children of refugees in Kendriya Vidyalayas, to mention a few, were a part of the concessions granted by the union government.
Balbir said that party has always fully supported the demands of the DPs and West Pakistan refugees living in Jammu and Kashmir, who have faced discrimination for the last six decades.
