BUNTY MAHAJAN
RAJOURI, OCTOBER 4: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Paharis also will get reservation on the pattern of Gujjars and Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a public rally which was attended by over one lakh people from both the Gujjar-Bakerwal and Pahari communities at new bus stand in Rajouri, Shah said that Justice Sharma (G D Sharma) Commission has submitted its report to the Government “recommending reservation to Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis”.
“I have come here to tell you that Prime Minister intensely desires that after the completion of administrative procedures about these recommendations, the Gujjars, Bakerwals and pragati’s get the benefits of reservation,” Shah said.
He cautioned people against vested interests saying that some people who do not want peace to stay in the region (Pir Panjal region) have started instigating Gujjars and Bakerwals that their quota of reservation will decrease. “I assure you that after including Paharis also, there will not be any decrease in your quota of reservation even by one per cent”, he added.
The announcement brought cheers from among both the paharis and the Gujjar-Bakerwal communities who started chanting Modi, Modi. Whike Paharis said that their long standing demand has got full filled, Gujjars and Bakerwals expressed satisfaction that the reservation already available to them will not be touched.
The Gujjars and Bakerwals were declared Scheduled Tribe by the Centre way back in 1991 and accordingly they got 10 per cent reservation on government jobs and admissions in professional colleges.
However, they got political reservation in 2022 when Delimitation Commission recommended reservation of nine assembly seats for STs in J&K.
This made Paharis to demand the same status as they live, like the Gujjars and Bakerwals, in the tough and backward terrain of Pir Panjal region, besides Baramulla and Anantnag districts.
Amit Shah, who earlier in the morning, paid obeisance at Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine, will be inaugurating various development projects in Jammu before flying to Kashmir. There he will address a public rally at Baramulla on Wednesday and also hold a security review meeting with top brass of police, para military and security forces in Srinagar during the day.
