Ronik Sharma
India is commemorating its seventy-five anniversary of independence and the government of India has designated its name as “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. The purpose of the celebration is to highlight the achievements of the last more than seven decades in various fields, i.e., socio-cultural, economic, technical, scientific, political, etc. India’s journey all these years has been full of ups and downs, achievements and failures. The entire exercise of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is to apprise the coming generations of our accomplishments and also to divide means and mechanisms to overcome our failures. The country has gone through various ups and downs over the last seventy-five years because, after independence, another chapter began, and no one could have predicted that the country would enter another period of struggle to defend the country from external aggression from our erstwhile part, i.e., Pakistan. Everyone knows that before parting from India, Britishers divided British India into two dominions, i.e., India and Pakistan, on the basis of the two nation theory. After the creation of Pakistan as an independent country in 1947, Pakistan launched its first frontal attack, attacking regions of the erstwhile Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. Because the previous state lacked appropriate defence systems to defend itself against external assault. By August 1947, the rest of the Princely States had acceded to India’s dominion through the procedure of an instrument of accession.
Under the Indian Independence Act of 1947, also known as the Mountbatten Plan, there were approximately 562 princely-ruled states. The Maharaja of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was the first sovereign to join the dominion of India. Soon after joining India’s dominion through the instrument of accession, the Indian Government dispatched troops to Jammu and Kashmir at the request of Maharaja Hari Singh to defend the territorial integrity of Jammu and Kashmir, which had been invaded by the newly formed country Pakistan with the support of tribesmen.Despite Maharaja Hari Singh’s willingness to join India’s dominion, Pakistan attacked and conquered the Jammu and Kashmir region unlawfully. Those deadly attacks on innocent civilians, mostly from the Hindu and Sikh communities, forced them to flee their homes and hearths, like Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bhimber, Sadhnoti, Bagh, Plandari, Poonch, etc., and they are now commonly known as displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani forces not only illegally seized Jammu and Kashmir’s territories but also slaughtered, raped, killed, and forcibly converted thousands of civilians, as well as burned and looted the properties of fleeing forcibly displaced people.
In the last seventy-five years since they were forcibly thrown out of their native places, which are now under the illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947, these displaced people have lost everything, making them the worst victims to date. In the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, successive governments wrecked the state by supporting and adopting so-called rehabilitation policies for terrorists. Under the cover of a “healing touch” policy for those who crossed the Line of Control in support of terrorism and resorted to gun culture, those terrorists killed and forcibly expelled Kashmiri Hindus from the valley of Kashmir with the help of their Jihadist organisational structures.They were given not only Government jobs, but also a host of additional cash benefits.The film The Kashmir Files is now in theatres, and it sheds light on numerous stories of the Kashmiri Hindu exodus, their pain, torture and genocide.
On the other side, the unfortunate displaced people from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who are true nationalists, have been subjected to the harshest prejudice by successive state and Central Governments, as their position has worsened in the absence of effective relief and rehabilitation programmes. These displaced people have suffered a significant setback as a result of Kashmir-centric political groups and leaders, who have occasionally hampered their rehabilitation, growth, and development. Because these Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir displaced persons were unaware of rehabilitative policies and programmes and were not allowed to participate in them, no welfare board for POJK DPs was established throughout their term in power, despite the fact that these Kashmir-centric leaders had dominated J&K for more than seven decades. There are no formal regulations governing reservations in schools and institutions.The legislative assembly had no representation till now. Nobody will pay for the harms that generations of PoJK displaced people have suffered over the past 75 years, and no government will be able to repay them. Both the successive state and Central Governments have flaws. Surprisingly, several groups have conducted multiple studies and made numerous recommendations in support of displaced persons of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including results from various parliamentary standing committees. However, no real action has been made to improve and uplift them so far. Since India is commemorating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and a nationalist government is in power, displaced people from PoJK are hopeful that the central government will do all possible to help them this time.
(The author is Convenor Roots in POJK)
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