Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 3: Senior Pahari leaders have expressed resentment over neglect of Pahari language in the list of official languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a joint statement senior leaders of Pahari speaking people have strongly resented the move of the Centre Government to ignore the Pahari language while declaring the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir. They said that Pahari language is spoken by large population of people representing various districts of Jammu and Kashmir regions but has been ignored from its rightful place.
They said that recognizing Dogri and Kashmiri along with Hindi, Urdu and English as official languages is welcome step but ignoring Pahari, Gojri and Punjabi besides few other languages having large linguistic base is highly regrettable and needs to be rectified immediately.
Demanding the declaring of Pahari as one of the official languages along with other such deserving languages to respect the sentiments and linguistic emotions as well it’s equal promotion, they said that already Pahari speaking people have been suffering neglect and discrimination in various matters including the recent introduction of income slab at eight lacs to debar a large section of the Pahari people from availing the benefits of reservation.
These leaders asked the Central Government and UT administration to immediately undo the injustice and ensure justice to lacs of Pahari speaking people otherwise these people will democratically seek redressal of their grievance and due place for their language in all possible manners
The signatories to the statement included former Minister Shabir Ahmed Khan, former legislators Ashok Sharma, former Dy chairman Legislative Council, Jahangir Hussain Mir, Ravinder Sharma Ex MLC, Nisar Ahmed Khan, (Retd) IGP, Khushal Bali, Rajinder Singh, Karamat Malik, Nain Chand Sharma, Zahid Malik, Bhavishya Sudan, Abdul Majid Khan, Yog Raj Sharma , Danish Khan, Teja Singh, Jhangeer Karnah, and Joginder Singh Chib.
Meanwhile, senior Gujjar leaders have expressed resentment over the neglect of Gojri and Pahari languages in the list of official languages of J&K.
In a joint statement senior Gujjar leaders expressed strong resentment against the move of the union cabinet to ignore Gojri language in declaring it as one of the official languages of J&K.
These leaders said, it is a matter of concern as Gojri speaking people form third largest community in J&K.
They also said that Gojri is a popular language in J&K and other parts of the country too.
Signatories to the statement included former Minister, Chowdhary Taj Mohiuddin, Ch Shah Mohd, Ch Mohd Akram, Ex MLA, Ch Shah Nawaz, Ch Zaffar Ullah, Masood Chowdhary, Ch Abdul Ghani, Ch Riaz Naaz, Ajaz Chowdhary, Ch Imran Zaffer and Ch Janaid Advocate.
Follow our WhatsApp channel