Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 7: The Jammu and Kashmir UT is the epitome of Punjabi civilization and not the name of mountainous region surrounded by fixed boundaries. It has been the misfortune of Punjabi that the erstwhile State had been isolate geographically for political reasons. The Punjabi has been one of the vital official languages of the erstwhile State for the last two centuries and well recognised in the Constitution of the J&K after 1947.
This was stated by former MLC and senior BJP leader Charanjit Singh Khalsa while talking to reporters here, today along with other leaders of Sikh community.
He said there are number of dialects spoken in this region namely Dogri, Pahari, Gojri, Poonchi, Mirpuri, Muzaffrabadi, Chubali, Pothohari etc but the truth is that, these dialects have grown up under the shadow Punjabi which is known as the mother of these languages.
This language, may be in different accents, is widely spoken in UT of J&K ranging from Uri ,Karnah, Baramulla,
Srinagar, Anantnag,( Kashmir Valley province), more than 10 lakh DPs of 1947 -Muzaffrabadi, Poonchi, Mirpuri refugees, West Pakistan refugees, locals of Rajouri, Nowshera, Akhnoor and many Biradaris viz. Khatri Punjabis ,Jains, Ramdaasis, Bhagats, Batwals and from Sialkot, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi , whole of IB Belt, up to Kathua in Jammu province are having a recognizable strength of Punjabi speaking people, he added.
Khalsa said according to a survey conducted globally among the thousands of languages, Punjabi stands at number five among the most spoken languages in the world. The Punjabi is the common heritage of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians etc. And the uniqueness of the Punjabi literature lies in fact that, this belongs to every citizen irrespective of the caste, creed and religion. Unfortunately there are some people who attach this language with Sikhs only, he added.
He said there were and presently also a number of non-Sikh poets and writers, who enriched this language from time to time. There is no script rigidity, it is easily written in Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi Persian script, Devanagari as per one’s needs, knowledge or suitability. The exclusion of Punjabi language from J&K Official Languages Bill 2020 is great injustice to the Punjabi language and Punjabi speaking people of UT, he added.
He demanded that keeping in view the large population affiliated with Punjabi, the Government must include Punjabi in the Jammu and Kashmir official Language Bill 2020.
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