Srinagar, May 13: AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is not visiting Jammu and Kashmir on May 17, Pradesh Congress Committee president Prof Saifuddin Soz said.
Reacting to reports that Mr Gandhi will attend the Pahari conference at Rajouri in Jammu region, Prof Soz said no such confirmation has been received so far.
Without naming anyone, he said that it was wrong on the part of some organisations in Jammu to claim that Mr Gandhi was going to visit Rajouri to address Pahari conference.
Prof Soz said that merely issuing a letter of invitation to Mr Gandhi does not mean that he has accepted it.
Mr Gandhi has not yet fixed any date for his visit to Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
However, he said, he will attend the conference on May 27.
Meanwhile, the Gujjars in the state have urged Mr Gandhi to stay away from the Pahari conference.
They alleged that this event will have a serious implication on tribal, ethnic and linguishtic make up of the state.
In a letter, which was released to press here, signed by community dignitaries sent through Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Forum, a frontal tribal organisation , the community suggested Mr Gandhi to stay away from the extremely contentious conference.
They alleged that the conference would press the government to declare Pahari speaking people as Schedule Tribe which will dilute the Tribal status of nomadic communities including Gujjars.
The letter said the community will oppose any such move with full force to enter a ''linguistic group'' into ''Tribal amalgam''.
The forum also faxed the copies of the letter to Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi submitting that some people are trying to get the ''Scheduled Tribal status '' in the name of a language called western Pahari so that they may secure certain benefits which have been given to the ''Tribal and Nomadic'' people only.
The seven-point letter has listed the reasons why Pahari Speaking people do not deserve Scheduled Tribe status
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