Rajouri, Apr 23: Ahead of the visit of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to Jammu, the Pahari Community has demanded scheduled tribee (ST) status for them.
Paharis, comprising of people from different religions and castes, reside in Rajouri and Poonch and parts of Kashmir valley and have been demanding ST status for last more than three decades.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Pahari activist and retired Master Subash Chander said that Paharis are struggling to get Scheduled Tribe status for long but the genuine demand has been ignored.
He added that recently BJP led union government gave positive indication towards their demand and entire Pahari community is expecting a good news during PM Modi’s rally.
“We have high hopes from PM and everyone is expecting some announcement for Paharis from the stage,” Yogesh Sharma, another Pahari leader from Rajouri said.
He added that Paharis are the most deserving people for ST status at this point of time.
Shahbaz Khan, another Pahari activist, mentioned the remarks of Union Home Minister Amit Shah during an event few months ago in Jammu and said that everyone among Paharis are expecting an announcement from Prime minister during his visit.
Many other prominent activists of Paharis including Ehsan Mirza, Quyoom Mir, Vikrant Sharma, Iqbal Malik shared similar views and said they have high hopes from Modi.