JAMMU: In an interesting development, the State Government has rejected the Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) of 12 people who migrated from this part to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to take up Pakistani citizenship. The residency rights of 12 members of a family were rejected as they came back to the State on a Pakistani citizenship and therefore lost their state subject rights automatically.

The case first hit the headlines during parliamentary elections in 2004 when the nomination of a Pakistani national, Zulfikar Ali, who filed his papers as a Samajwadi Janata Party candidate for the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha, was rejected by the Election Commission after objection by some persons that he was no longer a state subject as he had taken Pakistani citizenship. Investigations showed that before 1947 Zulfikar's family owned 125 acres of land in Salwa village of Mendhar area of Poonch district situated on this side of the Line of Control. Later, the family migrated to the Kotli area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1947-48 but the family illegally crossed the Line of Control several times. In 1983, Faker Din (Zulfikar's father), wife, five daughters and four sons, including Zulfikar, moved to India and sought to re-claim the ancestral land.

The State Revenue Ministry rejected the Permanent Resident Certificate given in favour of Faker Din (son of Phelwan Khan), Fatima Bi (wife of Faker Din), Mohd Shafiq (son of Faker Din), Nasyeen Akthar (daughter of Faker Din), Akseer Akthar (daughter of Faker Din), Nashreen Akthar (daughter of Faker Din), Shazia Tabsum, Khalida Tabsum, Iftikar Ali, Zulfkar Ali and Mohd Shakoor (son of Faker Din). The order issued by the Revenue Ministry said, "These persons who have been issued PRCs by the then Tahsildar and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Mendher, do not qualify to be permanent domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere in the country. The persons also lose their property rights in the State and till further orders any property owned by them vests with the state." Besides Indian citizenship, as per Section 6 of the J&K Constitution, Permanent Resident Certificate is given to those whose ancestors had lived in the State for at least 10 years before May 14, 1954. Only those with a PRC can buy property in the State, get employment and are entitled to other privileges.

The case is set to act as a precedent as it means that any former state subject coming back to the State on a Pakistani passport cannot reclaim his or her property.

There have been demands in some quarters that those who had left the State before 1954 should be allowed to come back and re-claim their property.

Talking to The Hindu, the Revenue Minister, Hakim Mohammad Yaseen, said, "The guidelines are clear that any state subject who takes Pakistani citizenship cannot reclaim their property rights in the State. The same guidelines would follow in future in similar cases."

The property of those who left the State and went to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or even Pakistan are worth millions of rupees and is controlled by a government-managed trust called Auqaf. In fact, in 1983, a resettlement Bill was introduced by the State Government in the Assembly, by which State citizens who had gone to the other side of the Line of Control or even Pakistan before May 14, 1954, could come back and re-claim their lands. The Bill vitiated the political environment with the National Conference supporting it and the Congress party opposing the move. It became the key election issue in the 1983 Assembly elections in which the NC swept the Kashmir valley and the Congress party won the Jammu region.

The Congress campaign was led in the State by none other than former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, the Bill failed to get the Governor's assent.

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