Srinagar, July 17: Volunteers from different districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday submitted memorandum of demands to respective Deputy Commissioners to forward the same to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, PM Narindera Modi, Home Minister, Tribal Affairs Minister and other dignitaries.
In the memorandum of demands, the community raised strong Objections to the unconstitutional and illegal proposal for inclusion of Pahari Speaking People in the Scheduled Tribe list in the Union Territory of J&K despite their demand being rejected in the past by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India on previous occasions.
After submitting memorandum to DCs they condemned the decision of National Commission for Schedule Tribe to recommend Paharis for Schedule Tribes Status and demanded the government to roll back Justice G D Sharma Commission report.
They appealed to the Government of India to not dilute the status of Schedule Tribes and save the tribal identity of less represented, underprivileged and marginalized Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rafaqat Ajaz, a representative of Gujjar Bakerwal community said that upper caste communities must not be added to the scheduled tribe list as till yesterday they were getting reservation on the basis of language and now they are referred to as Pahari Ethnic Group, their ethnicity is debatable.
He demanded immediate reconstitution of Jammu and Kashmir Backward commission.
Another Tribal Activist Mohammad Altaf said that it is an attack on the tribal identity of real tribals and our movement is a peaceful struggle to save the Constitution of India.
“We have submitted a memorandum to all the DCs of Jammu and Kashmir and opposed inclusion of Upper Caste Paharis into ST. They also called a meeting of activists and leaders from the community to make a future strategy,” he said.
