EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 6: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has urged the Lieutenant Governor of J&K UT to extend the benefits of reservation to all the Pahari people
In a statement issued here today, AAP leader and social activist Gurmeet Singh said that the new notification on reservation for Pahari people is unclear as a part of it says people who have a different ethnicity, or belong to a tribe, are entitled to get this benefit, but in another section it is written that who speaks Pahari will get the reservation, so government needs to clear it first who are entitled to get it. Government should also make it clear that Pahari speaking people including Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Christians are part of it or not.
He said that the Pahari language is spoken by Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians living in UT of J&K adding that Pahari it also known by a variety of names Khari, Poonchi (Pahari), Mirpur (Pahari), Mirpuri, and Pothwari, etc while some of call it as Punjabi.
Singh said that Pahari is also spoken across the Line of Control into the Pir Panjal mountains in Jammu and Kashmir. Refugees of 1947 also speak Pahari adding that government should also clear that whether refugess are included in Pahari speaking reservation or not, if not than include all the 1947 refugees into the category of Pahari speaking people. |
