There are now around 36,348 displaced families from PoK, Balochistan, Baltistan and Gilgit.
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“Under the influence of those meteorological conditions, thundershowers with isolated heavy falls are expected at a number of places in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Azad Jammu and Kashmir”.
After raising concerns about the human rights issues of people living in PoK, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anticipated to announce an unprecedented relief package for the families displaced from those areas. The government has already begun the process of identifying these families and proposes to compensate them with Rs 5.5 lakh each.
A senior official said that the home ministry will be placing the details of the package before the Union Cabinet for approval soon. These include refugees from Pakistan, mostly from PoK, who got settled in different parts of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts, after 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars, and don’t have permanent Indian residency. They have voting rights, which is limited to the Lok Sabha elections only. Therefore, they have never casted their votes in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. Equal employment opportunities, special recruitment drives for induction into paramilitary forces, admission for the children of refugees in Kendriya Vidyalayas, to mention a few, are a part of the concessions granted by the government.
There have been reports that government is planning to invite the Diaspora from PoK, Gilgit-Baltistan for the next Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas to be held in Bengaluru.
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Amidst increasing clashes in the Kashmir Valley, PM Modi raised the issue of PoK at an all-party meet, called to discuss situation in Kashmir.
