JAMMU: Apni Party President, Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday said that recognizing the Punjabi language as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir is on the top agenda of his Party.
“It is on our agenda to recognize Punjabi language as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir. The language has a huge contribution and it is spoken by people from all the communities in most regions of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Altaf Bukhari, speaking at a joining program here at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.
The program was organized by the Women Wing, Provincial President, Jammu, Pavneet Kour.
In the presence of the Apni Party President, prominent Sikh Community social activist Inderpal Singh with his supporters Surinder Singh, Ranjit Singh, Bila Pardan, Paramjit Singh, Bachan Kumar, Ajit Singh and others joined the Apni Party.
They were welcomed into the party folds by the Party President.
While welcoming the new entrants into the Party fold, Altaf Bukhari hoped that their joining would strengthen the Party at the ground level, and in future too, people from all walks of life will continue to join the Party.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that the issues of the Sikh Community will be resolved by the Party and no one will be left to suffer with no representation.
Referring to the demand to recognize the Punjabi language as an official language, he assured the new entrants and other leaders of the Sikh Community that it is their top priority to recognize the Punjabi language as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir.
He recalled the contribution of the language in Jammu and Kashmir in literature, and culture having historical traces.
He also appealed to the Govt to give representation to the Sikh Community members from each region in the Legislative Assembly.
“Apni Party is committed to working for all the communities for their social, economic, and political upliftment by providing them equal representation,” he said.
He appealed to the parents that they shall teach their children the Punjabi language so that it can be revived as per the wishes of the community, besides other languages.
Elaborating on how the Apni Party was founded, he recalled that his Party was founded when the traditional political parties left the people of Jammu and Kashmir in an atmosphere of hopelessness following the abrogation of Art 370 and Art 35A.
He further stated: “At the time when other parties were not ready to represent the people, the Apni Party moved forward to keep J&K united and represented the people even after facing baseless allegations. Accordingly, we went to Delhi and met the Prime Minister of India as well as the Union Home Minister to highlight the concerns of the general masses.”
He further stated that his Party represented the people in Delhi so that the emerging issues could be resolved following the abrogation of Art 370 and Art 35A.
“Therefore, his Party was able to get protection of land and jobs for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
As far as the concerns of the people regarding the deepening electricity crisis, he said that his Party had raised the issue following which the Lt Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha took the initiative to resolve the issue and accordingly, held a meeting to purchase electricity to resolve the issue of electricity shortage.
He said that there is a need to purchase more electricity for the Jammu and Kashmir regions to meet the growing demand in the wake of the harsh winter season.
He further stated that the Apni Party is committed to continuing the struggle for statehood and sought holding of Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, he said, “If we come to power, we will hold a fair recruitment process for various posts in Jammu and Kashmir and accordingly, the health and education sectors will be improved by deploying adequate staff to overcome the shortage of staff and improving infrastructure in these institutions.”
