Col Ajay K Raina
The geographical segment of Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) primarily comprises illegally occupied lands of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh provinces of the erstwhile princely State of J&K-territories of Chhamb, Bhimber, Mirpur, Pallandri, Rawalakot, Bagh, Kishanganga Valley (comprising of areas both in upper (Gurez) and lower (Shardi-Tithwal-Muzaffarabad) and practically the whole of Gilgit-Baltistan. Traditionally, Kashmiris have referred to the residents of Kishan Ganga Valley as aparim (driven by the native Parim language, the term means ‘People from the Other Side’), thus, highlighting the non-Kashmiri lineage of the latter. Technically, therefore, no classical Kashmir territory is part of the PoJK. However, it is a separate issue that the area under illegal occupation has been referred to as PoK for many decades. Such a reference is simply an indication of many people’s fixation with Kashmir.
In more than one way, wrong but wilful usage of the term PoK illustrates the unfortunate prejudice in the formerState since 1947. Jammu and Ladakh provinces have repeatedly been handed over raw deals throughout the past seven decades. Sadly, Jammu continues to suffer even after the abrogation of two unmentionable constitutional articles. Going back to the wrong term, PoK, its continued usage illustrates the kind of treatment meted out to the refugees or erstwhile residents of the illegally occupied territories by Kashmir-based power centres. As it happens, most of such refugees live in the Jammu province.While Jammu stands ignored, within Jammu province, refugees have been meted out the most inhuman treatment by the successive governments, both in the State and at the Centre. The title of this article mentions India since no other community, irrespective of religion, caste and creed, has been treated this way in this great country of ours.
Demands from the refugee community are many, and most of these demands are beyond debate. But on top of the list sits the issue of fair representation in the largest democracy in the world. As many as 24 assembly seats stand frozen pending retrieval of PoJK. When one scratches the surface, it becomes clear that such seats are wedded to geography rather than living souls. Retrieval of PoJK is a different subject altogether. Strange enough, no Parliament seat has been reserved for the region! Besides such an oxymoronic situation, the sad truth is while the seats have seemingly been reserved for the topography, the very residents who tilled those lands until 1947 have simply been ignored. Doesn’t it beat the commonsense that with more than one-third of the population (predominantly Hindus and Sikhs) crossing over into J&K in 1947, no seat has been released for the community? Are we actually looking at the trees, boulders, rivers and hills of POJK to get re-assimilated into India before liberating the proportional number of seats while ignoring the two-legged mortals who did manage to cross over, mostly on their own steam? Elections, at the end of the day, are meant for people and not for geographical features.
As if the ongoing neglect was not enough, a new prejudice came to the fore when the unfortunate exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) happened in the 1990s. It was a highly condemnable development that also brought to fore the inept handling by the State. However, while KPs still await their return, special provisions were created to allow them to exercise their electoral franchise irrespective of their physical locations. The fact that a similar arrangement has not been considered for PoJK refugees despite a lapse of more than seven decades proves why we feel justified calling ourselves lesser mortals of the country. One may be willing to let bygone be bygone, but now when administrative reforms being spearheaded by digitalisation are being contemplated, there seems to be no plausible explanation for the lack of accommodation being shown to this genuine demand of the refugees. Incidentally, post-release of financial grants to the refugees in the recent past, the government has all the scientific data available just at a click of a button. We could blame Kashmir-based politicians for the earlier omission but whom do we blame for the lack of change in the attitude today? Is it a bureaucratic hurdle, or is it simply a case of ‘couldn’t care’ by the decision-makers sitting in Delhi and who, incidentally, are also accountable for developments in the UT of J&K during the Central rule. There is no point commenting upon or expecting much from local politicians; the lesser said, the better!
Our nation has a history of ignoring and neglecting its assets. Such treatment of intellectually competent human resources saw a colossal brain drain that continues today. Indians have built economies and technologies of other nations while our political brass kept basking in the glory of illegal earnings and asset building ventures. No different is the handling of a community that is known for its fighting prowess on the battlefields across the globe. It was not by fluke that the British hired 60,000 able-bodied men from the Mirpur-Poonch belt to fight for them in World War II. Those figures were unmatched by any other princely state of pre-1947 India. The country, thus, missed the boat when it came to making use of such capabilities both during wartime and times of terrorism. Even today, no serious attempt appears to be forthcoming to empower the residents of our border belt to combat terrorism and infiltrations. As a result, our youth are forced to seek work elsewhere and pick up whatever jobs come their way. Strong nations can’t be created if their strengths (read strong communities) are ignored and made to feel like lowly lesser mortals!
The ongoing delimitation exercise is yet another opportunity available to resolve this long-pending issue. Going by the information available in the public domain, it seems that no steps are being taken to give specific voting rights to the large populace to enable the refugees to choose their own representatives. It is rather intriguing that the refugee community has thrown up leaders who have become ministers and lawmakers without any reservation or provision to vote against those frozen seats. Such natal leadership could have done better had some seats been reserved for them. It is well understood that not everyone had migrated from the present-day PoJK to India, but the fact that more than one-third population did cross the international border can’t be ignored either. In the fairness of things, at least eight out of 24 seats (one-third i.e.) reserved for PoJK should be released to the community that can elect their own representatives who can then voice their genuine concerns inside the corridors of power.
(The author is a military historian)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
