MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 5: A ruling Muslim Conference lawmaker representing Kashmiri refugees settled in the NWFP has called upon the AJK and NWFP governments to address residential problems of his electorate.

“Most of the Kashmiris in different cities and towns of the NWFP are living in miserable conditions and our rehabilitation department has failed to do anything for them,” said MLA Abdul Majid Khan while talking to Dawn here on Sunday.

The 31-year-old lawmaker, who defeated MMA and other parties’ candidates in the July 11 elections in independent capacity but later joined the MC, pointed out that since several areas in his constituency had also been affected by the last year’s earthquake, the problems of his electorate had aggravated.

His father Khan Abdul Waheed Khan had died along with eleven other family members including his mother Shireen Waheed, then AJK minister for social welfare, when their house in Muzaffarabad crumbled during the quake.

“I have urged the (AJK) government to at least direct the rehabilitation department to give possession of plots to Kashmiri refugees in the colonies it has established for them,” Mr Khan added.

Long ago, the AJK rehabilitation department had purchased pieces of land in different areas of Pakistan to establish housing colonies for Kashmiri refugees. Refugees, however, allege that most of these colonies are either at inappropriate sites or cannot be inhabited due to allotment disputes on the one hand and for want of development work on the other.