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| “Gujjars opposed ST status to Pahari Speaking People”: AJKGBCC | | | 
Early Times REport
JAMMU, Aug 27: The All J&K Gujjar Bakerwal Co-ordination Committee (AJKGBCC) held a massive protest here in Jammu today opposing the move of central Govt. to grant ST status to Pahari Speaking People and submitted a detailed memorandum to Divisional Commissioner Jammu expressing their concern in this regard. The leaders of co-ordination committee while addressing the protestors said that the recent developments and reports in a section of print and social media all indicate that the non-existent Paharis and their self-styled leaders having connections at right places in the J&K establishment have joined hands to convince the authorities in J&K and New Delhi to their spurious and unjustifiable claim to Scheduled Tribe (ST) Status, so that they could share the benefits the tribals, including Gujjars, Bakerwals, Gadis and Sippis, have been getting since April 1991. The tribals got ST status after decades of a relentless struggle and got reservation in government employment and educational institutions. The Gujjar leaders and social activists of community while speaking in the peaceful protest further said that the non-existent Paharis were granted 39% reservation under various categories under J&K Reservation rules right from 1994 till date. The Paharis do not constitute a tribe and don’t deserve ST status. It is established beyond any shadow of doubt that the conspirators are all out to jeopardize the legitimate rights and interests of the tribals and render them unreal and ineffective socially, educationally, economically and politically and create pre-1991 situation and all this is utterly unacceptable to us.
Mr. Anwar Choudhary Advocate convener of the coordination committee making the point said that the various Commissions and committees appointed by the successive governments in J&K, not even once referred to the non-existent Paharis as a tribal group. Similarly, the census reports of 1941, 1961, 1971, 1981, to mention only a few, also didn’t refer to the so-called Paharis as a distinct tribal group, he said, adding that the BJP-led NDA too in 2002 rejected outright the unjustifiable claim of the so-called Paharis to ST status, saying the laid down rules didn’t allow any such status to them. So much so, even their claim to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) status was never considered tenable and lawful by the successive governments in J&K and even by the Backward Classes Commission rejected their demand seeking OBC status, he further said.
Further dismissing their claim to the ST status, the leaders of various Gujjar- Bakerwals Organisations said that the entire UT of J&K, barring parts of Kathua and Samba districts in Jammu, is hilly and mountainous, and asked how could the well-entrenched so-called Paharis demand ST status for such people inhabiting only the Poonch-Rajouri border belt in Jammu and parts of Kupwara and Baramulla districts in Kashmir where the tribals are more numerous put forth such a mischievous demand.
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