TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-Amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overtures to people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, the government is all set to announce a Rs 2,000 crore package for displaced people of PoK living in the country. The Home Ministry is expected to place the details of the package before the Union Cabinet for approval soon, a senior official said. The Jammu and Kashmir government has already identified 36,348 families for distribution of the package under which each family will get around Rs 5.5 lakh.
“We hope that within a month, the package will get approval from the Union Cabinet and the funds could be distributed among the beneficiaries,” the official said. The refugees from West Pakistan, mostly from PoK, got settled in different areas of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. However, they are not permanent residents of the state in terms of Jammu and Kashmir Constitution.
Some of the families were displaced during partition in 1947, and others during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The displaced people can cast their votes in Lok Sabha polls but not in the elections to Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Jammu and Kashmir Sharanarthi Action Committee (JKSAC), an organisation representing the displaced people of the PoK has been maintaining that the package should not be seen as final settlement as Rs 9,200 crore was required to settle all of them.
