All Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (ASGMC), Kashmir on Friday demanded inclusion of Punjabi language in the list of official languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Committee has written a letter to Advisor to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, seeking an appointment to discuss the issue which has “deeply hurt the sentiment of people from the community.”
“This is in reference to the recent bill approved by Union cabinet, in which the languages –1 Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English – have been included as the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir, but unfortunately Punjabi language has been excluded which is our mother tongue and spoken by majority of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims living in the UT,” reads the letter,
It reads Punjabi language has been given the recognition and guarantee under Article 146, Schedule VI of J&K Constitution. “Thus it becomes obligatory on the part of the J&K government to make all the efforts for the promotion of Punjabi language in addition to other regional languages,” reads the letter.
It says Punjabi was the only language which was being taught in schools of J&K since very long and it was a compulsory subject up to class 10. “This exclusion (of Punjabi from official language list) has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Punjabi speaking people and has made them feel isolated and cheated,” reads the letter. “We strongly condemn this action and request for immediate amendment to the notification for the inclusion of Punjabi language in the list as this is the way to secure the rights of the minorities living in the UT of J&K.”