West Pakistan refugees have thanked Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for “restoring our dignity” and correcting a “historic wrong” by deciding to give land ownership rights to those who have been living in the UT for the past 76 years.
Thanking the lieutenant governor, they said the decision has brought cheers on their faces.
What the LG has done is good (for us). We are happy. For 70 years, we were living here and we could not own lands and houses,” the 25-year-old Sonu Kumar said.
Sonu said his grandparents came to India 70 years ago.
“My father and I were born here. But people used to call us Pakistanis. We used to get angry. We are Hindustani, India is our country. We are Hindus. We thank Sinha sahib from the core of our heart,” he added.
In a major decision, LG Sinha announced on May 1 that the administration will grant ownership rights to the refugees for land allotted to them on their migration to India from Pakistan in 1947.
Some of the refugees said Articles 370 and 35A had denied political rights and other benefits to them and hindered their prosperity and upward mobility. Abrogation of these special provisions made them citizens of India, they added.
Soom Lal Saini, 70, whose family came from Beri Pind in Pakistan in 1947, said he had been living with 11 members of his family in a one-room house for several years. He said they sustained their lives by working as labourers for generations.
“It is the biggest gift of my life. Now I will get ownership of the house. It will restore our dignity,” Saini said.
