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| Sad saga of Pahari Advisory Board | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 15: Nearly two decades after its creation, the Advisory Board for development of Pahari speaking people has neither been able to define its role nor to deliver any purpose.
Of the three boards for development of socially and educationally backward classes in Jammu and Kashmir, the story of Pahari Board is perhaps the most sordid. Others are Gujjar Advisory Board and SC Advisory Board which assumed high profile status at different points in time before getting relegated to oblivion.
An Advisory Board for the development of Pahari speaking people was constituted in early 1990s. It came into being around the time when Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir were included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. In fact Paharis had long been asking for an Advisory Board on the analogy of Advisory Board for Gujjars which came into being in mid 1970s. A demand pending for nearly 15 years was finally met when there was no elected government in the state. A Board was finally constituted by the then Governor GC Saxena who took charge of the Chairman.
The Pahari Advisory Board got its proper representative character and first Vice Chairman after National Conference returned to power in 1996. With appointment of National Conference leader Mohammad Din Bandey as first Vice Chairman, the Board entered into a confusion of its character and role which is still haunting it though practically it has been rendered defunct at present.
Bandey came from Kashmiri ethnic background and questions were raised on who should be called as Pahari. It was the time when the Pahari speaking people were lobbying for the Scheduled Tribe status, a demand vehemently resisted by the Gujjars, and appointment of Bandey at top position in Pahari Board further confused the identity of Paharis. If ethnic Kashmiris too were considered as Paharis, the demand for Scheduled Tribe status could well be a hoax. Therefore, Bandey was later removed and replaced by NC legislator Kafil-ur-Rehman as Vice Chairman.
Identity crisis at one hand and apathetic attitude of government on the other, the Pahari Board continued to be more or less symbolic. While it remained headless for quite a while, Shabir Ahmed Khan was appointed as its next Vice Chairman in 2004 with the status and protocol of a Minister of State.
With the fall of Ghulam Nabi Azad government in July last year, the Board too went even though the Governor assumed charge of the Chairman. Nearly six months after formation of an elected government, the Board is yet to get a Vice Chairman and members. Sources say that like in the case of Advisory Board for Gujjars, the fortune of Pahari Board is also suffering from a political tug of war between the coalition partners –National Conference and the Congress as both want to have the Vice Chairman from their party.
The Government, sources said, is not in any mood to appoint a Vice Chairman to the Board till cabinet is expanded. “It will be seen who fails to get a chance in the Ministry…he will be accommodated in the Board”, said a source.
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