PoJK displaced persons' delegation calls on Union Minister Singh, thanks for resettlement package

A delegation of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) displaced persons on Thursday called on Union Minister Jitendra Singh and thanked him for the government's decision to include 5,300 families in the rehabilitation package.

The meeting came a day after the Centre approved a resettlement package under which Rs 5.5 lakh will be given to each of the 5,300 displaced families which had come from PoK, initially settled outside Jammu and Kashmir and later relocated to the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

The delegation members wanted to seek certain clarifications about the implementation part of the decision and requested that the benefits of the rehabilitation package should be uniformly available to 5,300 displaced families which had been left out of the package earlier and the procedure for this should be simple.

Singh arranged a meeting of the delegation -- comprising Mahendra Mehta, Shyam Gupta, Madan Mohan, Bodh Raj, Manoj Khandelwal and others -- with senior officers of the Union Home Ministry dealing with the rehabilitation package.

The members of the delegation said their inputs and suggestions were received with patience, which the Home Ministry would examine in course of time and try to make the procedure as simple and convenient as possible.

Describing the cabinet decision as yet another major breakthrough for Jammu and Kashmir under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Singh said the government has the capacity and courage to resolve these issues.

The minister appealed to "guard against false rumours or misinformation sought to be spread by certain vested interests, who are uncomfortable with the government's decisive approach to resolve all the Jammu and Kashmir related matters, whether that be Article 370, 35-A or West Pakistan Refugees or PoJK displaced persons or Kashmiri Pandits".

Singh assured that the new set up after October 31 will unfold huge benefits.

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the inclusion of the families from Jammu and Kashmir which were displaced in 1947 and had initially moved out of the state but later on returned, in the Centre's rehabilitation package.

In the wake of the 1947 Pakistani aggression in Jammu and Kashmir, 31,619 families migrated from PoJK to Jammu and Kashmir.

Of these, 26,319 families settled in Jammu and Kashmir and 5,300 families initially moved to other parts of the country.

Further, during the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, a total of 10,065 more families were displaced from Chhamb-Niabat area.

Of these 3,500 families were displaced during the 1965 war and 6,565 families were displaced during the 1971 war.

The 36,384 displaced families covered under the package approved by the cabinet in 2016 included 26,319 displaced families from PoJK settled in Jammu and Kashmir and 10,065 displaced families displaced from Chhamb-Niabat area.

The 5,300 displaced families of PoJK who initially moved out of Jammu and Kashmir were not included in the approved package in 2016 but are now being included, according to an official statement.