Home finally takes up refugees' issue

Home finally takes up refugees' issue
AJAY SURI

NEW DELHI, JAN 16: Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today summoned Intelligence Bureau chief Shyamal Dutta and Home Secretary Kamal Pande to his North Block office this afternoon.

The issue at stake was the legal status of some 19,000 people spread out in the villages of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer and Barmer districts bordering Pakistan. During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, these people had moved over to Pakistan, but had returned to India subsequently.

But these villages -- their number has multiplied over the years -- do not enjoy any Constitutional or legal rights, they claim.

Advani was apparently prompted by former Rajasthan chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who has taken up the matter on their behalf. Shekhawat came to the North Block today with voluminous documents and official records concerning details of these people.

The fact that for the first time the Centre has taken up the issue at the highest level is indicative of the importance attached to it. The meeting, though it remained inconclusive, will continue on Friday. The matter was brought to Advani's notice yesterday by Shekhawat when he met the Minister for about 20 minutes and pleaded the case of these people.

The laments of these `refugees in their own land' are numerous. They often complain of harassment at the hands of local administration, police and security forces because of their undetermined status in the country. Most of the land they left while moving over to Pakistan has been taken over by the administration. One of their demands is that their land be returned to them, beside all other legal rights which they say they are entitles to.