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| Gujjars-Paharis up in arms, threatening each other | | STARK REALITY | | RUSTAM
JAMMU, JAN 17: The already troubled and terrorist and separatist-infested Jammu and Kashmir State is in for yet another serious conflict. And, this does not augur well for the state. There is a possibility that certain communities may clash with one another and complicate further the already rather complex situation in the state.
The case in point is the demand for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status put forth by the “Paharis” residing in the Poonch-Rajouri border belt in the Jammu province and Kupwara-Baramulla border belt in Kashmir province. It needs to be underlined that there is no such ethinic group as “Pahari” anywhere in the world and that those who inhabit the mountainous areas are usually called “Paharis”. In fact, all the people, without any exception, who inhabit the Himalayan belt are known as “Paharis” and that as far as the State of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, all the people, baring those few who inhabit the small plains of Kathua, Samba and Jammu district, are “Paharis”.
The demand put forth by the “Paharis” is coupled with two unequivocal threats. One is to the government that any failure on its part to consider their demand positively will force them to launch an agitation. The other is to those Gujjars who have been fighting for the cause of their extremely backward and neglected community that the “Paharis” would make the authorities withdraw from the tribal Gujjar community the status of ST in case they continue to oppose the demand of the “Paharis” for a similar status.
It may be pointed out here that the Gujjars and Bakerwals, besides other nomadic and socially, economically and politically backward communities like the Gaddis, have been enjoying the status of ST since April 1990. The then Chandra Shekhar-led government at the Centre had conferred the ST status on them, thus meeting their long-pending genuine demand. Ever since then, the “Paharis” have ben demanding a similar status saying they also inhabit the areas the Gujjars and Bakerwals inhabit and that their plight is no different from that of the nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals.
As for the attitude of the Gujjars and Bakerwals to the demand put forth by the “Paharis” for a similar status, they are opposing it tooth and nail asserting that the demand is ill-designed and ill-motivated and that the well-entrenched “Paharis” are demanding the ST status in order to create a counterpoise to their popular aims and aspirations so that the pre-1991 situation is restored and the Gujjars and Bakerwals are neutralized.
Not just this. The threatened Gujjar community and its leadership are organizing press conferences from time to time to counter the demand of the “Paharis” and generate an opinion that the “Paharis” do not deserve the ST status because they are not a nomadic tribe. They are also saying that no community can be given the ST status on linguistic basis and that these “Paharis” are “affluent”, a privileged class and the ones belonging to high social groups like Sayeed, Rajput, Brahman, Mahajan, Kashmiri and similar other well-to-do social segments.
They have gone to extent of appealing to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah not to consider the demand of the “Paharis”. Actually, they have drawn his attention to the composition of the Jammu and Kashmir Pahari Cultural and Welfare Forum (JKPCWF) to make their point and told the Chief Minister through a big advertisement and through their memoranda that there are 34 functionaries in the JKPCWF and the break-up is like this: Sayeeds 2, Rajputs 14, Brahmans and Mahajans 6, Kashmiris 7 and others 5.
To make their point all the more clear, they have pointed out that the “Paharis” are getting 29 per cent reservation in jobs and promotions, as against 10 per cent reservation in jobs and promotions the Gujars and Bakerwals are getting under the ST status. The break-up of 29 per cent reservation in jobs and promotions is: “Residents of Backward areas (RBA) 20 per cent, Actual Line of Control (ALC) 3 per cent, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) 3 per cent and Other Social Castes (OSCs) 3 per cent”.
The threatened Gujjar community has, in addition, drawn the attention of the Chief Minister to the fact that the “Paharis” never approached the Gajendragadkar Commission, Sikri Commission, the Wazir Commission, the Anand Comission and the Mandal Commission to make a demand that they should be given the ST status or they should be treated as Other Backward Classes. Not only this, they have told the Chief Minister that even the SRO 394 of 1981 of the State Government has refused to recognize the “Paharis” as a “distinct class”. In addition, they have told the Chief Minister that the “Pahari-speaking people are an amalgam of 5 different dialects nearest to Punjabi and Dogri and are a ‘linguistic’ group, not a ‘tribal’ entity”.
The arguments advanced by the threatened Gujjar community and its leadership appear quite valid when viewed in the light of the existing rules and regulations. It is a fact that till date no community has been given the ST status on the ground that it belongs to a particular linguistic group.
It is amazing that the “Pahari” leadership has excluded all other “Pahari” people of the state who inhabit the mountainous and hilly areas, including Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Udhampur, Reasi, Shopian, Kulgam, Gandarbal and similar other mountainous districts or who inhabit tehsils like Basohli, Bani, Billawar and so on. Had the “Pahari” leadership adopted a holistic and all-embracing approach, the attitude of the threatened Gujjar community would have been somewhat different. They would not have opposed the demand of the “Paharis” to the extent they have been opposing now.
The “Pahari” leadership would do well to redesign their demand taking into consideration the hard realities as they exist in the state and not precipitate matters in the manner they are doing right now. The Congress and the BJP leaders like MLC and Congress spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and Kuldip Raj Gupta, respectively, should also reconsider their stand because their association with the National Conference-dominated JKPCWF is sending a wrong signal. They belong to national parties and they have to be vigilant about the dangerous games which are being played by the National Conference with a view to setting one social segment against the other and vitiating the atmosphere in the sensitive border belt. This is also the time for the Union Government to intervene and resolve the controversy. The sooner it does so the better. The nation cannot afford any confrontation between the communities in the border belt in the larger national interest.
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