Jammu, Feb 23: National Conference Wednesday pleaded for the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari-speaking people without disturbing the reservation already granted to other communities.
A statement of NC issued here said that the party’s Pahari leaders recalled the recommendations made to the Centre in this regard by the NC Vice President Omar Abdullah in his capacity as J&K chief minister in April 2014.
The NC’s Pahari leaders including Ajaz Jan, Muhammad Aslam Khan, Vipan Pal Sharma, Rahim Daad, Ikhlaq Khan, Shafayat Ahmed Khan, Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, Bushan Uppal, Harcharan Singh Khalsa, Nirman Singh, Chowdhary Wali Daad, and Syed Peer Anayat Bukhari said that 5 percent reservation in the professional and technical colleges had been granted by the Omar Abdullah-led government to the students belonging to Pahari-speaking communities.
They also recalled the assurance of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during her public meeting at Rajouri in March 1983 that if the J&K government recommended, the Centre would grant ST status to these communities.
They said that the then J&K government led by Farooq Abdullah sent a recommendation for the grant of ST status to the Pahari-speaking people and also the Gujjars and Bakerwals of J&K.
“Subsequently, the issue was raised by Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah in their capacities as chief ministers with the successive prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi, V P Singh, Chander Shekhar, I K Gujral, Deve Gowda, P V Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh,” they said. “The issue was also taken up with the present dispensation.” The NC leaders said that the party would ensure that the interests of any community were not harmed.