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| J&K Govt can't grant ST status to 'Pahari' community | | NC-Cong under attack | | Neha
JAMMU, Feb 12: In Kashmir, the minority community of All-Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has started campaign against the NC and the Congress. Its leadership has been urging the Sikhs across the state not to support these two ruling parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The grouse of the Sikhs is that the State Government has not conceded their demand seeking minority status. The APSCC has turned anti-NC and Congress all the more because the State Government has not, according to it, taken any action on the suggestions given to it by the National Minorities Commission and President and Prime Minister of India. The Sikhs in Kashmir are also unhappy with the ruling coalition for other reasons as well. For example, their demand for the introduction of Punjabi in various educational institutions and appointment of Punjabi teachers in the Kashmir Colleges has not been considered. Besides, the APSCC has been charging the radical elements in Kashmir with harassing the community. It needs to be highlighted that the State Government can accept the suggestion of the powers-that-be New Delhi regarding minority status to the Sikh Community and similar other minorities in the State.
In Jammu, the Pathowari-speaking community, also described as Pahari community, has been threatening the NC and the Congress that it would work against them in case its demand for ST status is not conceded. On Tuesday, some self-styled leaders of this community again asked the State Government to grant ST status to their community or face the wrath of people in the forthcoming Assembly elections. But the problem is that the State Government cannot grant ST status to the community because it is not competent to do so. It can only make a recommendation to the Central Government. Again, the problem is that there exist no rules in any statute book which entitle any community to get the ST status on the basis of language. Besides, the community leaders' whole approach to the issue is narrow. Narrow in the sense that they only consider the Pathowari-speaking people as Pahari inhabiting Poonch and parts of Rajouri district in Jammu province and parts of the erstwhile Baramulla and Kupwara districts in Kashmir region. The truth is that the entire population of the state, barring those inhabiting the plain areas of Jammu province, are Pahari.
In any case, the NC and the Congress are at the receiving end, with the Pathowari-speaking people in Jammu province and the Sikh community in the state in general and Kashmir Valley in particular training their guns at them. There are many other social groups in the state which are also unhappy with the NC and the Congress. And there are reasons to believe that these angry communities would work against the ruling coalition, thus further harming its electoral interests. |
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