Who cares for non-Muslims ?

RC Ganjoo No government in past or in present has ever attempted to address the settlement issue seriously of non-Muslims refugees who have migrated from neighbouring countries to India.
However, the Meghalaya High Court, in its judgment on Dec 10, said that the Indian government should grant citizenship to all Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias, Garos who have migrated to the country.

Justice SR Sen Justice S R Sen, in his judgement, observed that at the time of Partition, “Pakistan declared itself as an Islamic country. India, divided on the basis of religion, should have been declared a Hindu country but it remained a secular country. He went on to add,
“The question is how can a Hindu belong elsewhere physically, psychologically and spiritually. His heart and home is India, his native land India.” It remains to be seen whether his judgement will be implemented.
In Jammu and Kashmir there are about 25,460 families from West Pakistan; the total number is approximately 1.5 lakh. They have been leading a miserable life in Jammu since 1947. These refugees have not been given residentialship of the state. They cannot get admission in professional colleges of the state nor can they apply for government jobs. They can vote for the Parliament but not for state Assembly.

Bhim Singh The Jammu & Kashmir Government came with a legislation, called the Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement in the State Act, 1982 The bill, known as Bill No 9, became law on October 6, 1982 – enabling the residents who had migrated to Pakistan between 1st March 1947 to 15th May 1954 to return and claim their property and resettle in the State . The then Chief Minister, Sheikh Mohd Abdullah, wanted to invite Muslims who had left Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of partition and settled in different parts of Pakistan.
The Act was challenged by Bhim Singh, then Congress MLA in the Supreme Court of India . Since then the case has been pending in the Supreme Court.

Rajiv Chuni, Chairman SOS According to Rajiv Chuni , chairman of SOS International, PoK DPs are facing the apathy of Government. These refugees do not have any constituency of their own. 24 assembly seats are kept reserved for the PoK area in J&K . They have been demanding to fill at least 8 seats. Besides, they have been demanding Rupees 25 lakh as compensation for each refugee family and other facilities under national and international laws for refugees.
Article 17 (1) of Universal Declaration of Human Rights says everyone has a right to own property. Article 21 (1) postulates that everyone has a right to take part in the Government of the country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Article 23 (1) lays down that everyone has right to work , to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.