Jammu, July 31: The Modi government ensured justice to West Pak Refugees (WPRs) after decades-long injustice being meted out to this displaced community which migrated from Pakistan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary, Dr Narinder Singh Raina said on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters here, Dr Singh said the Modi government gave domicile, voting and now land ownership rights on government land to the WPRs and 1965 displaced persons at par with the 1947 and 71 displaced persons.
He said these communities suffered grave injustice for decades due to the “wrong policies” of the Congress, National Conference and People’s Democratic Party, which denied them the basic rights of democracy.
“This injustice has now ended under the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government,” he said.
Dr Raina said that WPRs became refugees in Jammu & Kashmir in 1947 during partition. “They were deprived of the important rights of the state like voting or contesting in assembly, panchayat or local bodies elections. They could not purchase land here and their children could not seek admission to professional colleges,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi abrogated Article 370 and 35(a) on August 05, 2019, and gave voting and domicile rights to the WPRs, after which the wards of WPRs could take admission to professional colleges and are entitled to government jobs, the BJP leader added.
Now, under the supervision of PM Modi, LG Manoj Sinha-led UT administrative council took the historic decision to provide land ownership rights on the government lands to the WPRs, which is a welcome step, Dr Singh said.
He said the BJP expresses gratitude to PM Modi, LG Sinha and the Administrative Council for “doing away with the injustice” that prevailed for over 75 years.
