article_snippet.sent: India's only Muslim-majority state rulers have refused to give the West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) the right to own property or vote in state elections - meaning three generations are caught in abject poverty .
article_snippet.sent: Most of the West Pakistan Refugees were quickly absorbed in towns and cities of the newly-independent nations.
article_snippet.sent: However the fate of the West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) like Ram who decamped to Jammu and Kashmir state became mired in the dispute with Pakistan over Pakistan.
article_snippet.sent: Because of this, this rulers held off granting the refugees residential rights, including the right to buy land, vote in state polls or work in the state government..
article_snippet.sent: Observers say the reluctance of successive state governments to grant full rights to the overwhelmingly Hindu WPRs stems from fears of upsetting the demographic balance in India's only Muslim-majority state, which has special autonomy enshrined in the constitution.
article_snippet.sent: Successive governments have failed to act to due, say commentators, to a fear of upsetting the demographic balance of the state between the Muslim and HIndu populations .
article_snippet.sent: The WPRs, whose families mainly originate from Punjab, have fallen foul of a pre-independence law that only grants citizenship to people born - or descendants of those born - in the old undivided kingdom of Kashmir.
article_snippet.sent: The same legislation has allowed around 35,000 Hindus who have fled Pakistan-controlled Kashmir since partition to be granted citizenship.
article_snippet.sent: There are around 100,000 people classified as WPRs, most living in the city region of Jammu.
article_snippet.sent: Hardly any of around 100,000 people classified as WPRs have ever set foot in Pakistan.
article_snippet.sent: Yet the estimated 18,000 WPR families however live in abject poverty, mostly marrying among the estimated 18,000 WPR families because of the estimated 18,000 WPR families low economic status. '
highlights_snippet.sent: Laws mean that the West Pakistan Refugees living in Jammur and Kashmir cannot vote in elections or own property .
  