Resettlement Bill: A Controversial Chapter in Jammu-Kashmir’s Political History

Post the regime of Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, Syed Mir Qasim was appointed as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1971, in the wake of Bharat-Pakistan war, due to the death of his predecessor G M Sadiq. He remained on the post, till February 1975 and then resigned to pave the way for Shaikh Abdullah, who was re-appointed on the chair of the Chief Minister.

Mir Qasim had entered the active politics in 1946 during the “Quit Kashmir” movement against the Dogra rule and was elected to the Jammu-Kashmir Constituent assembly in 1951. He was at the helm of establishing the Indian National Congress in Kashmir and post his tenure as the Chief Minister of the state, he served on various state and union positions.

In his autobiography, ‘My Life and Times’ he portrayed the background of the issue of unrest against the then ruler Maharaja Harisinh and their version of Jammu-Kashmir ‘s accession in Bharat.

During his term as the Chief Minister, Shaikh Abdullah and his coterie steadily expanded their dream of independent Kashmir, into reality.

Around the same time, Mir Qasim began eliminating the demarcation line between the Indian National Congress and the National Conference. 

On National front, the delicate-framed but steely-willed Lal Bahadur Shastri, was the Prime Minister of Bharat during the war of 1965. Within a month post the war, he died mysteriously on foreign soil. 

Post his death, the political scenario in Bharat changed rapidly. The then Prime Minister of Bharat, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was the heir of Pandit Nehru and the Nehru family had long time bonding with Abdullah. Smt Gandhi, re-nurtured the old adherence and extended a hand of friendship towards Shaikh Abdullah.

Shaikh was an absolute opportunist and what better opportunity, than this, to resurrect and re-establish himself, in the political arena?!!!

Another important aspect was, that Shaikh’s political Godfathers in Pakistan were badly damaged economically and their strength in every way, had been diminishing, as the result of the Bharat-Pakistan battle of 1965.

For three years, they ‘twiddled’ their bonding and finally eventually invented the ‘Beg-Parthsarthy Accord’ in mid Seventies.

The JK-Bharat understanding was signed and implemented on the 24th February 1975. The Chief Minister on the seat, Syed Mir Kasim resigned and Congress elected Shaikh Abdullah as his leader and appointed him on the seat of Chief minister.

The traitor of yesterday, who had been arraigned for anti-national conduct, was turned into a patriotic leader!!!

Shaikh Abdullah revealed his true colours as soon as he captured the power. The Hindus in the state became the target of his dual policy. 

Shaikh’s eternal wish of creating entire Kashmir into a Muslim-dominated region and to turn Jammu, into a Muslim majority region. To fulfil this innermost dream, he proposed an extremely dangerous anti-Hindu bill in the Jammu-Kashmir Vidhansabha.

The ‘Resettlement Bill’ projected – an official invitation to the Muslims who had chosen to migrate to Pakistan at the time of partition!!?

Immediately after the partition, the Pakistan-sponsored and groomed raiders along with Pakistani army, attacked Jammu-Kashmir and captured a sizable area. As soon as Maharaja Harisinh signed the instrument of accession with Bharat, the Bharatiya army managed to save the rest of the area of the state. However, the UN intervention enforced a ceasefire and the Bharatiya army had to halt the battle. Hence, the area under Pakistani control remained status in quo.

The people of attacked region in the state, migrated to other regions, within the princely state, in search of a peaceful existence. 

The Bharatiya army took charge of defending the state of Jammu-Kashmir as soon as it became part of the Bharatiya union, thus the migrated people and the Maharaja hoped and believed that once the Government of Bharat would take charge and order the armed forces to re-capture the princely state’s areas under Pakistani control, the life of Kashmiri citizens would be back to normal.

But, no orders came from Delhi and the army stagnated at Uri for two months!!! 

And this stagnation of two months has cost Bharat utterly dearly and the nation is still, after Seventy-five years, paying the price for that delay.

The history has been altered and twisted and presented to the world, sketching Maharaja Harisinh in a gloomy light. The history commonly told to the world (or as portrayed by the National Conference)  speaks of the people, who had forcibly fled from their own homes, due to the massacre done by Maharaja’s army!!!

(Collection of history for proper understanding of historical facts and the misinformation as well as misinterpretation to justify the very vicious Resettlement Bill.)

The Jammu-Kashmir Grant of permit for Resettlement in or (Permanent Return to) was presented in the state assembly of J&K by a National Conference member Abdul Rehman Rather in March 1980. It was in terms of permanent residents and their descendants who had migrated to Pakistan between March 1st 1947 and May 14th 1954.

The objective behind bringing this bill, as per the National Conference Government in the state of Jammu-Kashmir :

During the Pakistan-initiated invasion in 1947, the mass killing of Muslims and its consequences were the foremost reason for the introduction of this bill.

As per the accounted historical references, almost half a million population Muslim population was displaced. 

The Muslim population of the Jammu and adjoining region had been systematically exterminated unless they escaped to the Pakistan side of the Kashmir border.

It was done by the force of Maharaja Harisinh.

Taking into account this narrative, the state government passed the bill under the terms of Section 6 of the J&K Constitution, which had a provision for those who were stuck in the area that became Pakistan in 1947.

Both houses of the state legislature passed the bill in April 1982 but the then Governor B K Nehru returned it for reconsideration. It was pitted against the then Congress government at the centre. Amidst the Congress opposition, the bill was again passed by both the houses and this time, the Governor assented.

The argument put forward by the National Conference implicated that the Bharatiya Constitution had the provision in Articles 5 and 7, that those who migrated to Pakistan can return under a law of the legislature.

But the then president Giani Zail Singh had already sent a presidential reference to the Hon. Supreme Court seeking its opinion on the law’s constitutional validity.

The case remained pending for almost two decades,  next Nineteen years, till 2001 until the JKNPP (Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party) ‘s Advocate Harshdev Singh filed a petition.

He stressed upon a security threat on the state, if the bill was cleared. He noted that in Pakistan, it was mandatory for everybody to undergo two months Military training before joining any job. Thus, these trained Pakistani soldiers, could be threat to Jammu. Additionally, these people, on their return would reclaim property and the agricultural land, which was alloted to refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Hence, adoption of this law would cause law and order issues in the state.

The case was considered by the Constitution bench of the Apex court, but it returned to the president with three words: “Returned, respectfully, unanswered.”

In the same year, the Apex court ordered a stay on the implementation of the act.

Later, the case was reopened and during the hearing on August 16th 2016, the court observed that the people of Jammu-Kashmir, who had migrated to Pakistan from 1947, could be considered for their return but not their descendants.

As the case was prolonged, in December 2018, the Apex court asked the J&K government to furnish details about the number of applications it received from original migrants from J&K to Pakistan and had expressed their intention to resettle in Bharat.

In January 2019, the J&K Government replied that it did not receive any application for resettlement under the Act from any state subject who migrated to Pakistan between 1947 to 1954.

Thus, the case would become null and void, considering the basis.

Secondly, The state Government of Jammu-Kashmir filed an affidavit in the court that the “Competent Authority” envisaged under Section 2 (a) of the J&K Grant of Permit for Resettlement (or Permanent Return to) the State Act, 1982 was never notified by the state government and thus, no application could be received under the Act.

The Central Government under the leadership of Narendra Modi too, opposed the Act, claiming that it would go against the Citizenship Act.

Later, in the same year on the August 5th, the BJP-led NDA Government at the centre scrapped the 37-year-old proposed law that would have permitted the J&K princely state subjects, who had fled to Pakistan from 1947 to 1954.

All this divisibility had begun when Shaikh Abdullah took the reins in his hands and it multiplied ferociously when he was reappointed.

One fanatic communal Muslim organisation named ‘Al-Fateh’ was immensely supported by Shaikh. Thirty of its followers were imprisoned for anti-national conduct. Shaikh Abdullah got all the cases against them pulled back and they were set free. He dissolved the ‘All Jammu and Kashmir Referendum Front’ or the ‘Plebiscite Front’ and made it part of the National Conference, hence its activities could be hidden under the facade of the National party. Shaikh became the backbone for the organisation known as ‘Jamat-e-Islami’ too.

On the contrary, at the time of the partition, the Hindus living on Pakistani soil for generations were expelled from their motherland and had to settle down in Jammu-Kashmir. They were denied citizenship for the longest period and were not entitled to buy property or land or vote in the state elections.

Shaikh Abdullah imparted a similar mindset to the upcoming generations. He encouraged them to ablaze the religious sentiments to fulfil their political ambitions and step ahead to achieve power.

Shaikh Abdullah pretended to be the common man’s Messiah, but in reality, he was nothing else but a power-hungry politician. He used his political strength to acquire Chief Ministerial position for his son Farukh Abdullah, Ministerial berth for son in law Gul Shah and Member of Parliament status for wife AkbarJahan. Dr. Farukh Abdullah was appointed as the president of National Conference during his lifetime.