MOHAJIRS ARE DENIED THEIR DUE RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN SINCE FIFTY YEARS -- I K GUJRAL

London - 16 July 2001

Replying to a question from Mr Anwar on 15 July 2001, in CNN's live broadcasted programme Q&A, the former Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said that Mohajirs were not given their due rights in Pakistan. The complete transcription of the particular conversation is as follows:

CNN Q& A Host: There is a call from Anwar from United Kingdom. What is your question?

Mr Anwar: When Kashmir bleeds, India bleeds. When Karachi bleeds, Pakistan bleeds. Should Musharaf and Mr. Vajpayee discuss the Mohajir issue, which is also a focal point alongside Kashmir?

Mr I K Gujral: Well, it is a valid issue but I don't think that it is in the agenda just now because I think Mohajirs have not yet involved India in this. We have sympathy with Mohajirs a lot but I don't think that this will be an item of discussion in Agra.

CNN Q&A Host: Could you explain for the benefit of our international audience what Mohajir is and why it is important?

Mr I K Gujral: You see, when India was partitioned, a very large number of Muslims, particularly Muslim intelligential, living in some provinces of the heart of India, migrated to Pakistan and they did not get fair deal. In the economy there, in the jobs and in the political appointments. Some of them did well, for instance Musharaf himself is a Mohajir from that point of view, but he went as a child. The gentlemen who are now forming Mohajir Front there, they are voicing the grievances of those people, who have been there for fifty years but have not been given a fair deal compared to India. I am also a Mohajir in that sense. I also came from Pakistan but none of us have any grievances against the government of India because we not only got our due but very often more than our due. For instance, when I was elected Prime Minister, I told to the parliament that it is a compliment to this nation and it's democratic system that I have come from Pakistan, completely diluted from everything to the extent that my family slept on the platform of railway station when they came here and I could be elected Prime Minister. This is something that only democracy can do. But unfortunately, democracy has not taken roots in Pakistan. The Mohajirs have not been given their due rights.