For several months in 1947, Sialkot saw a macabre dance of death and communal orgy which the Hindus and Sikhs escaped by entering nearby Jammu and Kashmir state. At the time of Partition, J&K, ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh, was not a part of India, and Sialkot city, besides nearby areas, had decided to hitch their fates to the new nation of Pakistan. The people who entered J&K at that time from West Punjab (Pakistan) came to be known as West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs).
For all practical purposes, they led the life of second class citizens leading third class existence till August 2019 due to Article 370. Due to the presence of this article in the Constitution of India, the WPRs had very limited rights in the state of J&K. They had settled permanently but were not Permanent Residents (PRs) of the state. They had rights to cultivate lands they were allotted but no rights to alienate it nor did they get any compensation if it was taken away.
On August 5, 2019, things changed drastically for WPRs when Article 35-A was abrogated and Article 370 got neutered. Five years after that historical event, the WPRs have got full proprietary rights on the lands they have held since 1947! On Tuesday (July 30), the Administrative Council (AC) of Jammu & Kashmir headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha gave them these rights. The AC meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to LG and Mandeep Bhandari, Principal Secretary to LG.
The Administrative Council decision will prove to be of tremendous help to the families of WPRs as they have been requesting for ownership rights for many decades. Earlier, the WPRs had been allotted land patches next to the International Border (IB) in seven tehsils of the Jammu province. These tehsils were Kathua, Hiranagar, Samba, Vijaypur, Jammu, Akhnoor and Rajouri. According to revenue department records, at least 5,764 people had got themselves registered as WPRs in 1947 and later years. Presently, their number may have risen to over two lakh but no official census was ever conducted to know their exact numbers.
After getting proprietary rights on lands allotted to them, the WPRs would have the same rights as those of Displaced Persons (DPs) of Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK). The Administrative Council also approved conferment of proprietary rights upon DPs in respect of state land. These people who were mostly displaced from Chhamb Jourian area near Akhnoor have now been brought on par with the Displaced Persons of 1947 and 1971. In due course of time, the revenue authorities will make the necessary changes in their internal records also.
In the absence of full proprietary rights on state lands allotted to them, the WPRs were not in a position to mortgage their land and raise loans. They were also not paid any compensation in the event of construction of roads or other infrastructure projects in the areas. If a land patch in possession of WPRs was acquired by the state or union government for undertaking any developmental activity in an area, it was the individual WPR families who had to suffer losses. The argument against giving them any compensation was that technically they were in possession of state land and the usage was being initiated by the state only.
Reacting to the development of conferment of proprietary rights, WPR leader Labba Ram Gandhi said it was a welcome step and will empower his community. Incidentally, Gandhi had been pleading for the cause of the WPRs for the past over two decades. He is an ex serviceman who had led the movement for giving all rights to the WPRs and repeatedly met Central leaders over this period.
