Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 20: Jammu and Kashmir Pahari Speaking Lawyer’s Forum held a protest demonstration here today to project their demands.
The protesters assembled outside the Office of Vice Chairman J&K Advisory Board for Development of Pahari Speaking People and raised slogans in favour of their demands. They also protested against the decision of Government for inclusion of some non-pahari speaking people as members of the Jammu and Kashmir Advisory Board for Development of Pahari Speaking People.
While addressing the gathering, the speakers said that with the induction of non-pahari speaking people in the Board clearly indicates of a well-knit conspiracy to dilute the identity of pahari community.
They said that Board was constituted for the development of Pahari speaking people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, as such, the members of the advisory should also belong to pahari speaking community as has been done since the constitution of the board and it is for the first time that the Government has nominated some of the members in board who does not belong to the pahari speaking community.
President of the forum Advocate Zahid Sarfraz Malik said that it is relevant to mention here that pahari language is not alien to the State Government as this is one of the old languages of the State and as such has find place in the sixth schedule of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Government is also well aware about the decades old struggle of the paharis for grant of Schedule Tribe Status and in this regard number of recommendations had been by the State Government from time to time, he added.
He appealed to the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who is also the Chairman of J&K Advisory Board for the Development of Pahari Speaking People to cancel the nominations of non-pahari speaking members from the board with immediate effect.
Those who spoke on the occasion were Ashok Sharma, KK Pathan, Abrar Khan, Nadeem Hamdani, Gurdev S Thakur, Israr Qazi, Zulfikar Malik, Zia-ul-Haq and others.
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