Srinagar, Oct 03: The Jammu & Kashmir GujjarBakerwals Organisations Coordination Committee Monday welcomed Home Minister Amit Shah in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
In a press conference, the senior members of the Coordination Committee have appreciated the Home Minister for the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
The Convener of Coordination Committee Adv. Anwar Choudhary appreciated the steps taken by the current Central Government for the upliftment and betterment of people of Jammu & Kashmir in general and that of the Scheduled Tribes in particular.
He said that for the last 30 years no Central or State Governments implemented the law relating to the Scheduled Tribes in Jammu & Kashmir.
It is the current government which provided political reservation and implemented the Forest Rights Act in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir. But in the same breath Anwar Choudhary appealed to the Home Minister Amit Shah to alley the apprehensions of the Scheduled Tribe of Jammu & Kashmir that S.T. Status of the Gujjars, Bakerwals, Gadis&Sippis’ shall not be diluted by including any other section of people in the category of Scheduled Tribe in Jammu & Kashmir.
Senior BJP leader Arshad Choudhary said that it appears that sinister moves are afoot to create a counterpoise to the just hopes and aspirations of the Gujjars and Bakerwals and weaken the nationalistic forces in the UT of J&K. Recent developments and reports in a section of media all indicate that the non-existent Paharis and their self-styled leaders having connections at right places in the J&K establishment have joined hands to convince the authorities in J&K and New Delhi to their spurious and unjustifiable claim to Scheduled Tribe (ST) Status so that they could share the benefits of tribals, including Gujjars, Bakerwals, Gadis and Sippis, have been getting since April 1991. The tribals got ST status after decades of a relentless struggle and got 10% reservation in job sector, professional and technical institutions and other houses of learning. That the non-existent Paharis were granted 04% reservation in job sector and they are already enjoying 39% reservation under different heads i.e RBA, ALC, OBC, EWS & Other Social Caste etc., other institutions established beyond any shadow of doubt that the conspirators are all out to jeopardize the legitimate rights and interests of the tribals and render them unreal and ineffective socially, educationally, economically and politically and create pre-1991 situation and all this is utterly unacceptable to us.
Making the point that the non-existent Paharis don’t deserve ST status, he said that the various Commissions and committees appointed by the successive governments in J&K, including the Gajendragadkar Commission, the Sikri Commission, the Wazir Commission, the Anand Commission not even once referred to the non-existent Paharis as a tribal group. Similarly, the census reports of 1941, 1961, 1971, 1981, to mention only a few, also didn’t refer to the so-called Paharis as a distinct tribal group, he said, adding that the BJP-led NDA too in 2002 rejected outright the unjustifiable claim of the so-called Paharis to ST status, saying the laid down rules didn’t allow any such status to them. So much so, even their claim to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) status was never considered tenable and lawful by the successive governments in J&K and even by the Backward Classes Commission rejected their demand seeking OBC status, he further said. Likewise, no authentic history book or book on anthropology and sociology refers to the non-existent Paharis as a tribe or even a group of tribal people, he further said.
Further dismissing their claim to the ST status, the leaders of various Gujjar- Bakerwals Organisations said that the entire UT of J&K, barring parts of Kathua and Samba districts in Jammu, is hilly and mountainous, and asked how could the well-entrenched so-called Paharis demand ST status for such people inhabiting only the Poonch-Rajouri border belt in Jammu and parts of Kupwara and Baramulla districts in Kashmir where the tribals are more numerous put forth such a mischievous demand.
“Language has never been the criterion for granting ST status in India as per the recommendation of Kaka Kalelkar Commission constituted by the Govt. of India in 1953 to identify the Tribal communities in the country ,” they said, and added that any move on the part of the authorities in J&K and at the Centre to grant ST status to the non-existent Paharis, who basically represent feudalism and who occupied, and continue to occupy, vital positions in the Government, would create serious problems in the border-belt in Jammu and parts of Kashmir and if it happened, the consequences would be disastrous for the nation and UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The AJKGBCC urged PM NarendraModi and Home Minister Amit Shah to reject the demand of the non-existent Paharis seeking ST status and reassured the fullest possible support to the tribalsGujjar&Bakerwal as guaranteed under the constitution of India. Anwar Choudhary Convener of All Jammu and Kashmir Gujjarand Bakerwal Coordination Committee said that recent protests from Kanyakumari to Uri District of Kashmir Valley of Gujjars and Bakerwals denote that there is a great concern & anger amongst the Gujjars not only of Jammu & Kashmir but from the country all over. He said that protests all over the country whether in Rajasthan, Gujrat, Haryana, Delhi-JantarMantar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra clearly shows that about 20 CroresGujjars of India stand with the GujjarBakerwal community of Jammu & Kashmir for protecting their Scheduled Tribe Status and any sort of tinkling with the same can have catastrophic effects all over the country. The speakers in the Press Conference have urged the Hon’ble Home Minister Amit Shah to direct the local administration to implement the provisions of Scheduled Tribe law, rules and regulations vis a vis Scheduled Tribes of UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
