Jammu/Sep,6: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), senior leader and ex-MLA Gulabgarh assembly constituency, Haji Mumtaz Ahmed Khan Sunday appealed to the Government of India to include Gojri and Pahari languages as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement to the press, Haji Mumtaz Khan expressed his anguish over the ignorance of Gojri language by the Government even as this language is spoken by a large section of society.
“Like Kashmir, Dogri and Urdu are popular languages in Jammu and Kashmir, Gojri and Pahari are equally important and spoken by the majority of the people across the Union Territory,” said Khan.
He said that the Pahari and Gujjars have separate cultural identities and the decision has created anger among the people who speak both these languages. The Government should not discriminate between the people of one Union Territory and accept the demand to include both these languages as the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
He said that “There is strong resentment in Pirpanjal, other districts of Jammu division, and parts of Kashmir division where nomads live. The nomads have third largest population in J&K and similar is the ratio of population who speak Pahari language.”
He said that the Government should act in accordance with the wishes of the people because the declaration of Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri, and English have represented one section, ignoring others. He further appealed to the Government to include Gojri and Pahari languages as official languages of J&K.
