Opinion | Punjabi Belongs On J&K's Official Language List

Punjabi-speaking communities have deep historical roots in the region, and Punjabi has been part of J&K’s linguistic and cultural landscape for generations.

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For the past several days, Punjabi-speaking people in Jammu and Kashmir have been on the streets, holding protests and demanding something they say is long overdue: official-language status for Punjabi in Jammu and Kashmir.

Their argument is straightforward. Punjabi is not an imported language in J&K. Punjabi-speaking communities have deep historical roots in the region, and Punjabi has been part of J&K’s linguistic and cultural landscape for generations.

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They are also demanding greater opportunities for Punjabi education and its institutional promotion.

This is a demand that deserves serious consideration—and, in my view, support. Because if Jammu and Kashmir’s language policy is genuinely intended to reflect its linguistic diversity, Punjabi should have a place at the official table.

Punjabi is not an outsider in Jammu and Kashmir

Perhaps the most important point needs to be made first. Punjabi should not be treated as a language that arrived in Jammu and Kashmir only after Partition. The history is considerably older.

Jammu has had centuries of social, cultural, commercial and religious interaction with the wider Punjab region. Punjabi-speaking communities have lived in the region for generations.

The Partition of 1947 undoubtedly altered the linguistic demography of Jammu. Large numbers of displaced people arrived from areas that became part of Pakistan. But that migration should not be used to erase the older presence of Punjabi-speaking communities in J&K.

Nor should every person who came from the western side of the Radcliffe Line automatically be labelled Punjabi-speaking. People from Mirpur, Kotli, Poonch and adjoining areas brought languages and varieties including Mirpuri/Pothwari, Pahari and Punjabi.

The larger historical point remains: Punjabi has an indigenous and deeply rooted presence in Jammu and Kashmir. It is therefore misleading to portray Punjabi as simply an “outside" language.

J&K itself once recognised Punjabi

The strongest evidence is not political rhetoric. It is the constitutional record. Punjabi was explicitly listed as a regional language in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The old constitutional framework recognised Kashmiri, Dogri, Balti, Dardi, Punjabi, Pahari and Ladakhi as regional languages.

Yes, Urdu was the official language of the State. But that........

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