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| Is border belt heading towards civil war? | | Paharis' Threatening Posture | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 25: Jammu and Kashmir Pahari People Movement (JKPPM) on Monday last threatened that "thirty lakh Paharis" of Jammu and Kashmir would "launch a statewide agitation if Scheduled Tribe (ST) status is not accorded to the community". The threat was administered during a convention of the JKPPM. The convention took place in Rajouri.
The Paharis (read the Pathowari-speaking people of Poonch, Rajouri and parts of the erstwhile Baramulla and Kupwara districts) have been demanding ST status since 1991, when the then Central Government granted the ST status to the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities. The Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are ethnically different. They are tribal people. They got the ST status after years of relentless struggle. The grant of ST status entitled them to a fixed share in the service sector and in educational institutions, including universities and technical and professional colleges, in the State.
It is important to note that there exists no such community as Pahari anywhere in the world. Those who inhabit mountainous and hilly areas are called Paharis. The Pahari leadership, which does not consider the people inhabiting the hilly areas in districts other than Poonch, Rajouri and erstwhile Baramulla and Kupwara districts, Paharis has been demanding ST status advancing three main arguments. One is that the socio-economic life of the Paharis is no different from that of the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities. The other is that they inhabit the areas Gujjars and Bakerwals inhabit. The third is that they are a distinct ethnic group and that they speak a different language. They advance yet another argument and the argument is that the grant of ST status to Gujjars and Bakerwals has adversely impacted their life.
It is also important to note that it is the Union Government which has the power to grant or not to grant ST status to a community which considers itself a tribe even if the State Government recommends its case. The Jammu and Kashmir Government has umpteen times recommended their case, but with no result. The reason is that the so-called Paharis of the State do not fulfill the laid down criteria. Not just this, the Gujjar and Bakerwal leadership has been opposing their demand tooth and nail saying the Paharis want to create a powerful counterpoise to their just hopes and aspirations and create a situation as it existed before April 1991. They have threatened several times that they would launch an agitation against the authorities in case ST status is granted to the Paharis.
There are reasons to believe that the Gujjar and Bakerwals, all Muslims, would rise in revolt in case the Government of India at the behest of Jammu and Kashmir Government grants ST status to the Paharis. Remember, the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities, like the Paharis, inhabit the sensitive border belt of Jammu and Kashmir and the country just cannot afford to take any step that could lead to a civil war in the areas which are already separatist and terrorist-infested. The truth, in short, is that the issue is very sensitive which needs to be handled very carefully taking into consideration all the pros and cons, including the possibility of Gujjar and Bakerwal community confronting Paharis and the vice-versa. |
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