SOURCE: Tribune News Service
The 73-year-long struggle of the three generations of the West Pakistani refugees ultimately yielded results as the first file for sanctioning the compensation of these displaced persons, under the “one-time settlement” (OTS) proposal, was approved in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Within days after granting domicile certificates, the authorities have initiated the process to disburse compensation to the refugees, agitating since 1947 to get the rights of the permanent residents of J&K. On Saturday, a special function was held in the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, in which domicile certificates were distributed to refugees.
“It is the result of a 73-year-long struggle of our three generations,” Labha Ram Gandhi, leader of West Pakistani refugees, told The Tribune, adding that the long-pending demand of relief had also been fulfilled with the beginning of the process to disburse the same among refugees living in different parts of the Jammu province.
“Although there is no official data available of the West Pakistani families living in the state, we have provided a list of 19,968 families to the local administration,” Gandhi said and hoped that all families would be provided compensation.
During his visit to Jammu on June 8, 2018, the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had announced to give Rs 5.5 lakh compensation to the families of the West Pakistan refugees settled in Jammu. During the last two years, the refugees had been facing many hurdles to get the compensation.
