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| Gujjar-Paharis On Warpath | | ST status for Paharis doesn't fit in the NC scheme of things | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 26: The National Conference (NC) leadership has, it seems, gone totally confused. It doesn't know the meaning and implications of what it says. And, the result has been that some of those who discuss things publicly or in the Parliament have become a laughing stock, with the people not taking them seriously. Things in the ruling NC have worsened to the extent that even the ideologues of the party have lost their way and that they have started speaking a language that has the potential of pitting one section against the other and provoking a civil war in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). They have started speaking a language that is inconsistent with their autonomy demand.
Take, for example, the intervention of NC MP and ideologue Mohammad Shafi Uri in the Rajya Sabha on February 24 during the debate on the motion of thanks on the Presidential address. Participating in the debate, Uri, among other things, demanded that "Pahari community" (read Pathowaris) living in the border districts of Kashmir and Jammu, including Poonch, Rajouri, Baramula and Kupwara, be declared Scheduled Tribe (ST) so that they also progress at par with other communities (read Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims) living in their neighbourhood. He said "a canard is being spread that they (Pathowaris) would eat someone's (Gujjars and Bakerwals') pie" if they are declared backward.
There exists no such ethnic group as Paharis anywhere in the world. Paharis are those who inhabit the hilly and mountainous areas. As far Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, all the people, barring those who inhabit the Kashmir Valley and parts of Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts, are Paharis as all the people in Himachal Pradesh, barring those who inhabit parts of Kangra and Una districts bordering Punjab, are Paharis. It is for Uri and others of his ilk to explain as to on what basis they describe certain sections inhabiting Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla and Kupwara districts as Paharis. An explanation on their part is a must because their insistence on the ST status for Paharis has all the ingredients of pitting the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims against the Pathowari-speaking people, particularly Muslims. The Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims obtained the ST status way back in April 1991. These backward communities believe that the grant of ST status to the Pathowaris would create a powerful counterpoise to the aims and aspirations and create a situation as it existed before April 1991 - situation under which the Pathowari-speaking people enjoyed all the privileges. The fact of the matter is that the Gujjars and Bakerwals have been vehemently opposing those demanding ST status for the Pathowaris for years now.
What Uri said had serious implications. It is obvious that he didn't apply his mind before demanding the ST status for the Pathowari-speaking people in the areas he referred to. More so in the sense that his demand was totally inconsistent with the demand of his party seeking a dispensation outside the Indian Constitution. It ran counter to the NC's whole religio-political philosophy and approach towards the constitutional framework of India. Demanding ST status for "Paharis" means contradicting the party's stand on autonomy.
It needs to be remembered that the Indian Constitution is the only statute book in the entire world that confers the status of ST on certain communities if they fulfill certain criteria as was the case with the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslims or Gaddis and Sippis (all Hindus) of Jammu and Kashmir. There is not a single country in the whole of the Muslim world that provides for reservation of any kind for any social segment on any ground whatever.
All this only serves to demonstrate that the NC leadership is still not clear and that it doesn't really know what exactly it wants. It's only creating confusion. |
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