Jammu
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, members of the Sikh community staged a demonstration in Jammu on Tuesday, demanding inclusion of Punjabi in the list of official languages in the territory.
Led by Supreme Sikh Organisation (SSO) chairperson, S Gurmeet Singh, the demonstrators said that they would intensify their struggle if their demand was not met.
The protest in Gandhi Nagar locality of Jammu came days after the Indian Cabinet on September 2 approved a bill under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the occupied territory.
Gurmeet Singh talking to reporters said that they held this rally to express their anger over the step-motherly treatment being meted out to Punjabi-speaking people and injustice with the Sikh community at large. We want the Indian government to include Punjabi and other regional languages in the official list, he said.
He said Punjabi belongs to all and not only to Sikhs. He said that they wanted all the native languages to grow in the territory as people speaking in Gojri, Pahari and Punjabi comprise one-third of its population. He added the Sikh community stands for Punjabi and the spirit of inclusiveness.—KMS
