Pahari people (Kashmir)

The Pahari people or Pahari-speaking people (abbreviated to PSP; Potwari: پہاڑی لوکی) are a diverse ethnolinguistic group who form a heterogeneous society consisting of a number of castes, religions and ethnicities inhabitanting Jammu and Kashmir.[1][2] They largely form two groups. One group mainly inhabits the areas of the western parts of the Kashmir region split between India and Pakistan popularly known as Pir Panjal Range of the lower Himalayas. They predominantly speak Lahnda (Western Punjabi) dialects includes Pahari–Pothwari in Poonch and Rajouri Districts and Hindko in Baramulla and Kaupwara Districts of Jammu and Kashmir but refer to themselves 'Pahari Speaking".[3][4][5][6][7][8]

The other group of Pahari people speaks five main languages which are classified as Western Pahari by G.A. Grierson in the first Linguistic Survey of India. They constitute the Bhadarwahi, Sarazi, Bhalesi dialect, Padri dialect, Gaddi language and Kangri-Dogri language speakers group found in Doda district, Ramban district and Kishtwar district and Kathua district of Jammu region.[9][10][11]

Language

The Pahari–Pothwari is intermediate between Punjabi and Lahnda varieties like Hindko.[12] It is the most widely spoken language of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir, where it is predominant in all districts except the northernmost Neelam Valley.[13]

In Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Pahari, also known under various local names such as Poonchi or Chibhali, is spoken by approximately 1 million people[14] concentrated in the region between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers: most significantly in the districts of Poonch and Rajouri, to a lesser extent in neighbouring Baramulla and Kupwara, and also – as a result of the influx of refugees during the Partition of 1947 – scattered throughout the rest of Jammu and Kashmir.[15][16][17]

The other Pahari varieties spoken in the mountainous parts of the Jammu region include Bhadarwahi, Sarazi, Bhalesi, Padri and Gaddi practice distinct Pahari Culture and are more closely related to the Pahari languages spoken in Himachal Pradesh.[18]

A Western Pahari Corridor from majorly Shimla to Murree has also been proposed under the Aman ki Asha initiative to link the similar Western Pahari language-based areas of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Azad Kashmir and Pothohar Plateau.[19][20]

Pahari is among the regional languages listed in the sixth schedule of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir,[21] and it is one of the languages being promoted since 1978 by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.[22]

Close to 747,000 people in the United Kingdom also associate themselves with the Pahari ethno-linguistic identity and also speak the Mirpuri dialect of the Western Pahari langauge. Mirpuri Pahari is also infact the second most spoken mother tongue in the UK behind English. The community popularly calls themselves Mirpuri Paharis and is a diaspora community which migrated from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir in the 1960s after the creation of the Mangla Dam which caused the displacement of close to 110,000 people during that time. [23]

Scheduled Tribe status

Since the 1970s there has been a movement promoting the recognition of a Pahari identity and advocating for the adoption of affirmative action policies towards this group.[24]

The Paharis have received some institutional support – for example, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir's State Advisory Board for the development of Pahari Speaking People has supported Pahari people's education since 1989.[25][26] Nevertheless, core demands – like that for a Scheduled Tribe status and the associated affirmative action benefits – were not met. In 1989,  the Government of Jammu and Kashmir recommended to the Union Government of India that the Paharis of Kashmir should be granted such status,[27][28] and this recommendation was reiterated in 1994 by the governor of Jammu and Kashmir and the chief ministers of the state.[29][30][31][32]

Gurjars who are already enjoying  Scheduled Tribes status in Jammu and Kashmir since 1991 have opposed the grant of similar benefits to the Paharis with the argument that such a step will dilute the entire Scheduled Tribe status.[33][34]

In April 2020, the government of Jammu and Kashmir granted to "Pahari-speaking people" four percent reservation for direct recruitment and admission and distribution of seats in professional institutions.[35] This has sparked disagreements between representavies of the two unrelated "Pahari" communities – those of eastern Kashmir and those of mountains of western Jammu – as to which group of the two constitutes the "genuine Paharis" with a more disadvantaged status, and therefore stronger claim to receiving the benefits of the reservation policy.[36][37]

See also

References
  1. "Ethnic Plurality in Jammu and Kashmir- A Sociological Analysis -Book- Man in India". Research Gate.
  2. "Chapter 05-IDENTITY FORMATION AND ASSERTION A STUDY OF PAHARI SPEAKING COMMUNITY OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR" (PDF). Department of Sociology University of Jammu -shodhganga.
  3. "Pothwari- Vol. Linguistic Survey of India Vol. 8, Pt. 1 Indo-Aryan Family. North-Western Group. Specimens of Sindhī and Lahndā". Digital South Asia Library.
  4. For the heterogeneity of the dialects, see Rensch (1992, p. 53); Masica (1991, pp. 18–19); Shackle (1980, p. 482): the term Hindko is a "collective label" which "embraces dialects of very different groups, not all of which are even geographically contiguous.". For the ethnic diversity, see Rensch (1992, pp. 10–11)
  5. "Pahari and Pothwari:A sociolinguistic survey -Language classification" (PDF). SIL International -2010.
  6. "State Advisory Board for the development of Pahari Speaking People". Jammu and Kashmir Government - Pahari Speaking People Board.
  7. "Pahari Speaking People of Jammu and Kashmir" (PDF). IPEC /.
  8. "4% Reservation for Pahari Speaking People of Jammu and Kashmir" (PDF). IPEC /.
  9. "Vol. Linguistic Survey of India published in 1928. Vol 9, Pt. 4 Indo-Aryan Family. Central Group. Specimens of the Pahārī Languages and Gujurī". Digital South Asia Library.
  10. "Vol. Linguistic Survey of India Vol 9, Pt. 4 Indo-Aryan Family. Central Group. Specimens of the Pahārī Languages and Gujurī". Digital South Asia Library.
  11. "GADDI -Vol. Linguistic Survey of India Vol 9, Pt. 4 Indo-Aryan Family. Central Group. Specimens of the Pahārī Languages and Gujurī". Digital South Asia Library.
  12. Shackle, Christopher (1979). "Problems of Classification in Pakistan Panjab". Transactions of the Philological Society. 77 (1): 201. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1979.tb00857.x. ISSN 0079-1636.
  13. Lothers, Michael; Lothers, Laura (2010). Pahari and Pothwari: A Sociolinguistic Survey (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. 2010–012.
  14. Pahari–Pothwari at Ethnologue (20th ed., 2017) This is an estimate from the year 2000.
  15. Singh, Kuljit (2014). Identity Formation and Assertion: A Study of Pahari Speaking Community of Jammu and Kashmir (PhD). University of Jammu. p. 18. hdl:10603/78359.
  16. Bhat, Javeed Ahmad (2014). Politics of Reservations: A Comparative Study of Gujjars and Paharis of Jammu and Kashmir (PhD). Aligarh Muslim University. ch. 1, pp. 38–44. hdl:10603/167183.
  17. Kour, Updesh (2014). "Punchi". In Devy, G. N.; Koul, Omkar N. (eds.). The Languages of Jammu & Kashmir. People's linguistic survey of India. 12. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan. pp. 261–78. ISBN 978-81-250-5516-7.
  18. Kaul, Pritam Krishen (2006). Pahāṛi and Other Tribal Dialects of Jammu. 1. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. ISBN 8178541017.
  19. "Dreaming of peace dividends: Revival of Shimla-Murree linkages - Aman Ki Asha". Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  20. "Dreaming of peace dividends: Revival of Shimla-Murree linkages - The Wire". Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  21. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2020-04-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. "Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages". Government Of Jammu and Kashmir.
  23. Hussain, Serena (2013). "Missing from the 'minority mainstream': Pahari-speaking diaspora in Britain". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Taylor & Francis). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2014.953539 Check |doi= value (help).
  24. Sharma, Malvika (2020). "Remaking of ethnic-boundaries: identity and religion among Sikhs in the borderland of Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir". Asian Ethnicity. doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1811951.
  25. "Schemes State Advisory Board for the development of Pahari Speaking People" (PDF). Social Welfare Department, Jammu and Kashmir Government -Pahari Speaking People Board.
  26. "State Advisory Board for the development of Pahari Speaking People". Jammu and Kashmir Government - Pahari Speaking People Board.
  27. "Pahari Speaking People meet PM with ST status demand". Excelsior News.
  28. "Pahari Community Reiterates Demand For ST Status". Jammu Kashmir Archives.
  29. "Govt push to grant ST status to Pahari community -Mufti". 5 Darya News.
  30. "CM promises ST status to Paharis". Early Times News.
  31. "Pahari Community Reiterates Demand For ST Status". Jammu Kashmir Archives.
  32. "Scheduled Tribe Status for Paharis in J&K". IPCS News.
  33. "Gujjars, Paharis spar over tribe status". The Hindustan Times.
  34. "J&K Gujjars meet Union Tribal Minister oppose ST status to Paharis". The Scoop News.
  35. "Govt of Jammu and Kashmir ordered granting 4% Reservation for Pahari Speaking People of Jammu and Kashmir" (PDF). IPEC.
  36. "NC demands Pahari status to erstwhile Doda distt". Daily Excelsior Jammu. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  37. "Row over decision on quota issue Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir refugees claim to be the 'real Paharis'". Daily Excelsior Jammu. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
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