Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) President Sajad Lone. File
| Photo Credit: S. Irfan Ahmad
J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) chief Sajad Lone and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Muntazir Mehdi on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) said the officers of Kashmir division got only 18% representation in the latest senior level officers’ list in the Union Territory, terming it a “recruitment apartheid”.
J&K CM Omar Abdullah on Tuesday (September 15, 2026) distributed appointment orders to 55 newly selected candidates of the Combined Competitive Examination entering the Jammu & Kashmir Administrative Service and Jammu & Kashmir Accounts (Gazetted) Service at a function in Srinagar. The newly-appointed officers included 28 Junior Scale officers and 27 Accounts Officers.
Reservation is a Jammu versus Kashmir issue, rooted in ethnically disempowering the inhabitants of the valley, Mr. Lone said, adding that “this Kashmir region 56% vs 18% recruitment figure will not be changed if the so-called file sent by the elected government to the Union government is approved. At best it will increase to 19%, against 56% population”.
Mr. Lone said he would be raising this issue in the Assembly through appropriate legislative devices.
Referring to the list of officers selected under the J&K Accounts (Gazetted) and J&K Administrative Service (JKAS), Mr. Lone, who is also a legislator from Handwara, said: “Against a population ratio of 56%, the inhabitants of Kashmir have got 18% of the jobs. Incidentally appointment orders were given by Chief Minister sahib. Ideally, he should have kept away. This is recruitment apartheid. And persecution of the inhabitants of the Kashmir valley”.
Mr. Lone said it seems “a strategy to disempower and marginalise the inhabitants of Kashmir valley”.
“I wish and hope that we together, across party lines, are able to highlight the severity of this issue. And call a spade a spade. Which would mean saying it explicitly and unambiguously that the present reservation system in place is a methodology to disempower and relegate to the margins, the inhabitants of Kashmir valley,” he added.
Meanwhile, PDP leader Mehdi said despite the Valley comprising around 60% of J&K’s population, 18% representation is worrisome. “This demands scrutiny of representation, fairness and the current recruitment framework. I will raise it in the Assembly. Kashmir’s youth deserve equal opportunity, not token representation,” Mr. Mehdi said.
Published – September 17, 2026 05:15 am IST
