Amend Sachar committee report to include nomadic muslim, TRCF,J&K

Srinagar, 10 (UNI) The Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation (TRCF) has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and incorporate necessary amendments in the Sachar Committee report'' to include the problems and difficulties being faced by nomadic Muslim tribes of India.

In a letter to Dr Singh the TRCF, an organization working on various aspects of tribal and Nomadic Communities of India, said that the Sachar Committee has left unaddressed the problems being faced by the Nomadic muslim tribes in the country.

They said the committee constituted by the Prime Minister to asses the Social, educational and economical status of Muslims in India has failed to do justice with the community.

The letter said the Sachar Committee reports mainly focussed its attention only on the issues of settled Muslims that includes OBC's, BPL, MBC and other lower casts but ignored the Muslim nomadic Tribes including Scheduled Tribe Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Reacting to Sachar committee report Dr Javaid Rahi, National Secretary of the Foundation expressed surprise that the 404 page report of the committee has no mention of nomadic Muslims or Muslim tribes.

He said the report was also silent about the legitimate rights of tribals including mobile system of education, right of franchise for Muslim nomads, recognition of traditional judiciary system popular in Muslim Tribes, Political empowerment of Muslim STs, socio- economic safegards to nomads, and issue related to ethnic, cultural and lingual identity of lakhs of Nomadic Tribals incuding the Gujjar Muslims, in Himalayan belt of Northern India.

Dr Rahi further said that the Gujjars which constitute the largest ''tribe'' among Muslims in India are living nomadic life in a very pathetic condition, for centuries together in all the Northern states. But, he said the Sachar Committee report is absolutely silent about them.

UNI