Iltija protests removal of Urdu from job recruitment eligibility rules, slams NC govt

Srinagar: PDP leader Iltija Mufti Tuesday took to the streets to protest govt’s proposed move to remove knowledge of Urdu as an eligibility criterion under Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Service Recruitment Rules, calling it an attack on J&K’s linguistic heritage.

Talking to reporters outside the party headquarters, Iltija said: “Urdu is being sidelined in govt services, educational institutions like Jamia Siraj-ul-Uloom are being shut, students are being booked under Public Safety Act in Sopore, but the National Conference govt is doing nothing.”

She attempted to lead a protest march, but was stopped by police. “Urdu connects villages and cities across Jammu and Kashmir. It is part of our linguistic heritage, our identity and is a repository of knowledge,” she said. Urdu served as a link language among diverse communities, including Kashmiris, Paharis and Gujjars, Iltija maintained, questioning the rationale behind its removal.

The education and revenue departments were under the elected govt, and it could not escape responsibility, she said, adding, “I want to ask the chief minister, why he is busy running marathons in different states instead of addressing his responsibilities here. Accusing NC of “doing BJP’s bidding”, Iltija said PDP “will resist these designs and defeat such moves”.

The row began after the revenue department on April 10 issued a draft of J&K Revenue Service Recruitment Rules for non-gazetted posts, inviting objections within 15 days. The draft stated the minimum qualification for direct recruitment to be “graduation from any university”, omitting the knowledge of Urdu, which was earlier mandatory.

In 1989, J&K’s then Dogra ruler replaced Persian with Urdu as the court language. After 1947, the J&K Constituent Assembly retained Urdu as the state’s official language. Over time, English gradually replaced Urdu in official communication. Urdu’s 131-year status as the sole official language in J&K ended in Sept 2020 when the central govt brought the J&K Official Languages Bill, declaring Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and English as the official languages of the UT.

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