Jammu : A piquant situation is developing in Jammu and Kashmir with some Pakistan-occupied Kashmir residents, who came to the State to meet their relatives, refusing to return.

It all began with 99-year-old Nawab Din, a PoK resident of Mirpur area.He came to Rajouri in August to meet his son after four decades. The old man was allowed to stay here for a maximum of one month to meet his relative and return. However, he refused to return pleading that he did not have anyone in Mirpur. Nawab Din also moved the court and got his deportation stayed.

Seventy-year-old Syed Alam Shah followed him.He too filed a similar writ petition in the High Court claiming that he was entitled to stay here. Tauseef Ahmed, a resident of Kotli in PoK, who came here in September, has also refused to go back.

Emotional and humanitarian reasons apart, the forcible return of PoK residents has legal and political dimensions attached to it. If any foreigner had come to the State, the situation would have been different. Both the Indian and Jammu and Kashmir constitutions are quite clear that the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir, as it existed on 1947, is Indian territory and therefore residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are legally Indian residents.

Agreements and the 1994 Parliamentary resolution have reiterated that PoK is a part of India. The 1952 Delhi agreement signed between Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah says that in accordance with Article 5 of the Indian Constitution, persons who have their domicile in Jammu and Kashmir shall be regarded as citizens of India and as India lays its claim over POK, its residents are also Indian citizens. In 1994, Parliament passed a resolution that PoK is an integral part of India.

Travel of persons across the PoK is restricted under the Ingress and Egress Act, if anybody illegally crossed the LoC. But in these cases, the three had crossed over though legal means.

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