Srinagar: After life remained paralysed for five months of unrest, the Kashmir valley is likely to erupt a second time this year. This time over Mehbooba Mufti government's move to issue domicile certificates to refugees who migrated from mainland Pakistan.
The refugees, who migrated from what was then West Pakistan and have settled in Jammu, had been demanding citizenship rights since 1947 only to be rejected by successive state governments.
But with BJP at helm in centre and a partner in state, the West Pakistan Refugees (WPR) could sense this was a time to strike some concessions from Mehbooba government.
Almost simultaneously it has kicked up a row with both separatists and mainstream Opposition parties maintaining the move would change Kashmir’s demographic profile.
The separatists have called state-wide protests from Friday. Police and paramilitary forces have been asked to maintain law and order and use pellets as last resort.
The refugees, all of them Hindus, have been demanding citizenship rights but successive governments in Kashmir refused to accept the demand because settling non-state subjects in the state is banned under the special laws the state enjoys.
Sensing trouble and street violence, the government issued a clarification.
"The government is only issuing identity certificates to the refugees, which would not confer any rights that the permanent residents enjoy," Nayeem Akthar, government spokesman said in a statement.
"The certificate only shows where they lived in West Pakistan and where they live in the state now…. Their status remains unchanged,” he said.
He clarified that the refugees from West Pakistan cannot take part in Assembly elections, own immovable property or get a job in the state government. But they can participate in parliamentary elections and can hold central government jobs.
However, separatists and opposition National Conference are opposing the move alleging that the government was removing the roadblocks in integrating them into the state.
Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, who led a five-month agitation over the July 8 encounter death of militant commander Burhan Wani, said the decision to issue the certificates was another “anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim” move by the government.
"The people of Jammu & Kashmir will not hesitate to offer any sacrifice to oppose such actions tooth and nail,” they said in a statement.
"Settling them in… Jammu and Kashmir will jeopardise and erode its historical and political contours, which is not acceptable to us at any cost,” they said in a statement.
They (the BJP) want to turn the majority Muslims into a minority,” Ali Sagar, NC senior leader said.
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