Govt urged to include Gujari in school curriculum

MANSEHRA: The Gujjar Qaumi Ittihad on Saturday demanded the government to include the Gujari language in school curriculum, census and national database and registration authority (Nadra) data forms, or else they would launch a street agitation against it.

“The Gujari language is one of the oldest languages being spoken in Hazara Division but it is yet to be made part of our curricula as well as Nadra and census forms,” Qari Mohammad Rafique, the president of Gujjar Qaumi Ittehad Pakistan, told reporters in Oghi.

Flanked by the Ittihad’s office-bearers, he said that people speaking the Gujari language were settled mostly in Hazara but also in the rest of the country.

“We have been striving for a long time for inclusion of our language as one of the mediums of communications in government’s papers and departments as a regional language but to no avail,” Rafique said.

He added that the government had extended the list of five languages to 15 after including Kashmiri, Saraiki, Hindko, Barahui, Shina, Muwati, Balti, Kalasha, Kohistani and Pohtwari for the upcoming national census but people speaking Gujari were still being denied of their basic right enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

“We have finalised a writ petition seeking integration of the Gujari as one of the communication mediums being spoken in the country for centuries. And we will also move the Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Circuit bench next week,” Rafique added.