Protests carried out by Gujjars and Bakarwals in Jammu and Kashmir against the Centre’s decision to include upper caste Paharis in the ST category have paced up. A 500-kilo-metre long march from Kupwara to Kathua has been started by the leaders of the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities. The Gujjar-Bakarwal joint action committee has said that the Centre will have to take its decision back, and for the same, 40 youths are carrying the march out.
These youths are going to villages and telling the people that how the inclusion of the Pahari community in the ST category will trample their rights. These youths will move across all the 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
On the other hand, the Pahari community is content with the Centre’s decision. Pahari leader Saeed Mushtaq Ahmed bukhari has said that they were fighting for their rights for the last 3 decades, and justice has been served now. Looking at the Jammu and Kashmir elections, Mushtaq added that with the Centre’s decision, the state’s 12 lakh Pahari voters will side with the BJP.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on 4th October, had announced that the Pahari community of Jammu and Kashmir will be included in the ST category, and it is being called a master stroke by the BJP as far as politics is concerned.
