Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Sept 7:Jammu & Kashmir Awami Forum (JKAF) today expressed its resentment over the non-inclusion of Punjabi and Gojri language in the list of official languages of J&K.
In this regard, a protest was held at the Press Enclave where the members of the forum raised slogans in favour of their demands and impressed on the Government that these languages should be included in the list.
The protestors said that these languages have always been subjected to discrimination and that the recent decision of ignoring these languages by not including them as the official languages was unacceptable.
In a press statement that was released here, it said that its President Farooq Ahmad Ganai has expressed anguish over the recent decision of the Government.
He stated that the decision that was taken was entirely unjust and was sheer discrimination with the Sikh and Gojri community in J&K.
He said that the people of Sikh and Gojri community are a part and parcel of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the non-inclusion of their languages as official languages of J&K cannot be tolerated.
The members who were a part of the protest that was held said that if the decision was not revoked and these two languages were not included in the list, they would go for an agitation.
The protestors said that the Punjabi language stands at number 5 in terms of spoken languages of India and there is a large proportion of the population that speaks Punjabi languages in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
They said that these facts validate their demand of including it along with the Gojri languages in the official languages of UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
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