Parl panel calls for White Paper on J-K militancy

A parliamentary panel has called for documentation of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the form of a White Paper even as it dismissed the state government's objections to the suggestion as being "orthodox".

The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Ministry has said that it felt that though the various aspects of militancy in J-K may have been well documented, all the facts should still be brought out in the form of a White Paper as part of a single document for public information.

The panel did not agree with the view put forth by the state government that it was not advisable at this stage to issue any While Paper on militancy in J-K.

"The committee is not in agreement with the view put forth by the state government. In the view of the committee, in the age when movement for transparency is gaining momentum and the country has witnessed a quantum leap in this direction, such orthodox views should not find place in democracy.

"When the whole world has now begun to appreciate India's views on terrorism and regard the country as one of the worst sufferers of terrorism, bringing a White Paper should not be a cause for concern," the standing committee's 184th report said.

The panel also rapped the J-K government for halting the registration of Kashmiri Pandit families who had fled the Valley with the onset of militancy in the early 1990s. It said that several migrants' associations have complained that there are a large number of migrant families who remain unregistered.

Though the Home Ministry has claimed that all families which fulfil the criteria have been registered, the committee is of the view that since there are complaints by organisations of non-registration of a large number of families, the Home Ministry should examine these and draw up a mechanism whereby families fulfilling the criteria are registered without much hassle.

The Home Ministry has told the parliamentary committee about the state government's submission that with the improvement in the ground situation, it has stopped the registration of migrants.

However, the Home Ministry has again advised the state government on August 25, 2014, to take necessary action so that migrants can get their migrant certificates and identity cards in time.

The committee observed that it was not at all convinced by the stance taken by the J-K government that the situation on the ground has improved to such an extent that there is no need for registration of displaced families.

"In the view of the committee, this is the height of insensitivity as not only have they been displaced, they are also still unregistered, which practically means that no benefits will go to them. Immediate action should be taken in this regard," the report said.

Due to onset of militancy in J-K in the early 1990s, most Kashmiri Pandit families migrated from the Valley to Jammu, Delhi and other places. There are about 62,000 registered Kashmiri migrant families in the country. About 40,000 registered Kashmiri migrant families are residing in Jammu, approximately 19,338 in Delhi and about 1,995 families in other states.

As a result of packages offered to these families by the government in 2008, one family has returned to Kashmir Valley while government jobs have been provided to 1,466 migrant youths and 469 transit accommodations have been constructed in the Valley.