The PDP insider who was engaged with the BJP in the dialogue process said instead of accepting the demand that the AFSPA should be revoked from the entire state within one year, it has now been agreed by the two parties that a committee would be formed which would recommend gradual, but timely, revocation of the act from areas in the state.
Sources in the BJP said: “The PDP has agreed to the BJP demand that the CMP should accept that the problems faced by West Pakistan refugees should not be politicised, but treated as a humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed on humanitarian grounds.”
West Pakistan refugees are those over 25,000 families who came to the state after the India-Pakistan wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971.
Since these people were not citizens of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir as it existed before accession to India in 1947, they cannot vote in the state assembly elections, nor buy property in the state.
These refugees cannot apply for government jobs since all the state government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir are reserved for permanent residents of the state.
As an anomaly, the West Pakistan refugees can vote in the parliament elections, but not in the state assembly elections since the state has a constitution of its own in addition to the country’s constitution and both apply concomitantly to the state.
With regard to the PDP demand on return of NHPC owned hydro-electric power projects in the state to state ownership, the sources said it had been agreed that the two would work together for central assistance for state ownership of these projects.
The PDP’s other key demands included a reconciliation process with Pakistan and a dialogue with the Hurriyat.
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