BANGKOK – Refugees in India s western state of Maharashtra have beengranted land ownership rights 70 years after fleeing what is now Pakistan,officials said.

The move is part of a wider push to give more rights to certain refugeegroups in different parts of India.

About 3 million refugees from the Sindh and Punjab provinces in Pakistanare believed to have fled to India, as carnage between Hindus and Muslimssparked a massive migration across a border created as British colonialrule ended in 1947.

Refugees in Maharashtra were housed in about 30 government-owned “camps” orcolonies across the state, with limited rights to sell or redevelop theirhomes.

The state government had granted ownership rights to refugees in somedistricts. Earlier this week, officials said all remaining refugees wouldget ownership rights, paving the way for the redevelopment of thousands ofhomes.

“Now they can sell, redevelop and mortgage the property in which they havebeen living for more than six decades,” chief minister Devendra Fadnavistold reporters.

“Many of these properties are in a very poor state.”

About 5,000 refugee families from Sindh and Punjab live in five colonies inMumbai, which are all slated for redevelopment, he added.

India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which spells outrefugee rights and state responsibilities to protect them.

Nor does it have a domestic law to protect the more than 200,000 refugeesit currently hosts, including Tibetans, Sri Lankans, Afghans, Bangladeshisand Rohingyas from Myanmar.

But in recent years, the government has been granting limited rights tosome refugee groups. – Agencies