Sikh organisation praises PDP for making minority status a poll issue

SRINAGAR: A Sikh organisation today praised PDP for including the issue of grant of minority status to the community in its election manifesto for the ongoing Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We welcome the PDP for including the demands of Sikh community in its manifesto," All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said.

Raina said if the National Minorities Act is extended to Sikhs in Jammu and Kashmir, the problems of the community living in the state will be solved.

"The state government needs to implement the National Minority Act in the state and once this is done the problems of Sikhs would be over. Other minorities should also support PDP so that there is holistic development in the state," he said.

Raina said during the three-year rule of PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed from 2002 to 2005, people heaved a sigh of relief as they were given sense of security by the people at helm.

In its manifesto, the PDP has promised to recommend to the Centre granting minority status to the Sikhs in the state and a Punjabi chair in the University of Kashmir.

The party also promised that Punjabi language would be given due recognition by teaching it as an optional language in schools.