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Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Quota report sent to law dept: Oppn accuses J&K govt of delaying tactics
Opposition leaders came down heavily on Jammu and Kashmir government and termed its decision of sending the reservation report to law department, calling it as delaying tactics to undermine merit. After the cabinet meeting that was chaired by J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday evening the reservation report was sent to law department. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Waheed Para on Thursday came down heavily on Jammu and Kashmir government's handling of reservation issue and said that the government cannot continue to hide behind excuses. He said that there was no resolution despite passage of six months leaving the students heartbroken and their trust in the system shattered. 'Six months ago, the J&K government promised to resolve the reservation issue through a subcommittee report. That deadline has passed, leaving thousands of students heartbroken and disillusioned, their trust in the system shattered and their futures put on hold,' Para said in post on X. On June 10, health minister Sakina Ittoo had said that the report of 3-membered sub committee on quota has been completed and would be submitted before the cabinet for a decision. However after a meeting of chief minister Omar Abdullah and his cabinet colleagues on Wednesday, the government made no mention of what transpired about the committee report. Para said that this is a deliberate denial of justice. 'These students have already endured violence, lockdowns, and lost opportunities. Now, as they seek fair representation and rationalised reservation, the government is pushing them further to the margins,' he said. The PDP MLA from Pulwama said that National Conference government has the power to strike down the BJP-imposed policy with a single administrative order. 'But the party that promised to reverse BJP's damage is now complicit in continuing it. If this is their response to a pressing youth issue well within their control to solve, then what should we expect on Article 370, statehood, or the Wakf Amendment Bill, which requires them to speak truth to power?,' Para said. The new reservation policy was introduced by lieutenant governor-led administration, before the assembly elections early last year, had squeezed the general category to 40%, which form the majority of the population, and increased reservation for reserved categories to 60%. After the elections, there were widespread demands for reversing the policy in recruitment and admissions prompting the Omar Abdullah-led government to form a three member cabinet sub-committee on December 10. Para said that erasing merit in Kashmir is not just a political issue but also a national security concern, given that Jammu and Kashmir is a border state where the youth are vulnerable to militancy, radicalism, and cross-border influences. 'If the Kashmiri youth are not offered hope, it will only empower subversive elements, further destabilising a generation and future. The government's inaction risks pushing these young people into a corner, forcing them to choose between studying and preparing to face the world or fighting against a system that has failed them,' he said. In April, J&K government had defended the new reservation policy in the high court facing backlash from the students and opposition. Para said that the government must act now. 'It cannot continue to hide behind excuses while the students' futures hang in the balance. Rationalisation of reservation and proportional representation represent the only fair path forward, and it must be implemented without further delay,' he said. 'Those claiming committee is helping students are either lying or complicit,' he said. Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Lone said government has no idea about reservation. 'I have all along maintained that the government is clueless on reservations and has no intentions of doing anything. Now coming to this draft proposal. To the best of my knowledge anything sent to cabinet should be vetted by the law department. It is not the other way round. You can't send something to cabinet which is outside the domain of law. It looks like another round of time wasting tactics,' he wrote on X. Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari asked government to set a timeframe to resolve this issue. 'Set a clear timeline to resolve the reservation issue. With each passing day, merit continues to get undermined. Government must act swiftly and avoid any delaying tactics,' Bukhari wrote on X. Awami Ithead Party chief spokesman Inam ul Nabi said that this is not governance—it's an elaborate circus of deceit, delay and diversion. 'The Omar Abdullah government has once again proved that its words are hollow and its promises mere gimmicks. After over six months of public build-up, backdoor committee sittings and false assurances, the so-called CSC report has not even reached the Cabinet table in any serious form. What more proof do we need of their sheer indifference towards justice for open merit candidates,' he said adding that the Cabinet's latest move to 'rework' the report a 'well-scripted betrayal'.
India Gazette
13 hours ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
Omar Abdullah lauds Vande Bharat train experience, says will consider
Samba (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 19 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah praised the Vande Bharat Express after travelling on the newly launched Katra-Srinagar route on Thursday, calling the high-speed train the 'best way' to commute between Srinagar and Jammu. The CM said he would soon speak to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw about increasing the frequency or capacity of the train to meet high demand on the route. 'The journey was very good. The train is excellent, and these days, if you have to come quickly from Srinagar to Jammu or vice versa, there is no better way than this. Secondly, it will definitely impact tourism. The demand is so much that as per what I am hearing, it has become very difficult to get tickets in this train for the next 1 month,' Omar Abdullah said. 'After speaking to Railway Minister Ashwini ji, we will see if we can increase the frequency of this train or the carriages in this train, because the demand is very high. Now, to meet the demand, we will have to take some steps immediately,' he added. CM Abdullah also reviewed preparations for the Amarnath Yatra and upcoming Muharram, assuring that the administration is fully geared up. 'Today, I reviewed the situation in Jammu regarding the summers. I especially asked about the arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra and Muharram. All the preparations have been done from our side. Now we are waiting for the pilgrims and hope that their Yatra is comfortable.' Addressing the recent Air India plane crash, Abdullah urged restraint and patience while investigations are ongoing. 'Accountability will be fixed. Who said accountability will not be fixed? Right now, we do not know how the plane crashed. We should wait. Both the black boxes have been found. An inquiry has been set up...' The Chief Minister also welcomed the return of tourists to Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Kashmir Valley and Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. 'I want to thank all the tourists who have started coming back to Jammu and Kashmir and especially Kashmir. Similarly, the number of pilgrims who stopped visiting Mata Vaishno Devi immediately after Pahalgam has also increased. Similarly, the trend of tourism is increasing in Kashmir...,' he said. The Vande Bharat Express operating on the newly launched Katra-Srinagar route is witnessing overwhelming demand from passengers, with bookings full for the next 10 days, according to railway authorities. Earlier last week, National Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah travelled in the Vande Bharat train and paid obeisance at the Maa Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra. Farooq Abdullah said that he had a 'good darshan' at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and that he prayed for prosperity and brotherhood in the region. (ANI)
Indian Express
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
J&K Opposition slams Omar govt for not addressing concerns on reservation — ‘deliberate denial of justice'
A day after the cabinet subcommittee on reservations tabled its report to the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet, the Opposition has targeted the ruling National Conference for 'delay' in making the document public. Government sources told The Indian Express Wednesday that the report had been forwarded to the Law Department for review. Introduced in April last year by the Lieutenant Governor-led UT administration, the UT's reservation policy amends Rule 4 of the J&K Reservation Act of 2005 to increase reservation for reserved category in the state to 67 per cent from 43 per cent, with 3 per cent horizontal reservation to ex-servicemen. This has meant that only 33 per cent was left for the general category of candidates – a change that has been vehemently opposed by various political parties as well as students. Student groups from the 'Open Merit' or general category have been demanding a rationalisation of this reservation for over a year. The protests prompted Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's government to announce a subcommittee to look into the issue. PDP leader Waheed Para said Thursday that the J&K government had promised to resolve the reservation issue through a subcommittee report. 'That deadline has passed, leaving thousands of students heartbroken and disillusioned, their trust in the system shattered and their futures put on hold,' Para said. Terming the delay in addressing concerns of the protesting students 'a deliberate denial of justice,' Para said: 'These students have already endured violence, lockdowns, and lost opportunities. Now, as they seek fair representation and rationalised reservation, the government is pushing them further to the margins'. The Pulwama MLA said that the ruling National Conference government has the power to 'strike down' the BJP-imposed policy with a single administrative order, 'but the party that promised to reverse BJP's damage is now complicit in continuing it.' Meanwhile, People's Conference chairman Sajad Lone Thursday accused the government of being 'clueless' on reservation and stated that they have 'no intentions of doing anything.' 'Coming to this draft proposal. To the best of my knowledge, anything sent to the cabinet should be vetted by the law department. It is not the other way round. You can't send something to the cabinet which is outside the domain of law. It looks like another round of time-wasting tactics,' Lone said. The protests were among the first challenges faced by the elected government in J&K. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had met with students protesting outside his residence in December 2024. In April, the government-appointed cabinet subcommittee began deliberations with student groups and in the first week of June, the minister concerned Sakeena Itoo announced that the subcommittee had compiled its report and it would be presented before the UT cabinet. However, after the cabinet met Thursday, the findings of the report were not made public and sent to the law department for review. The reservation policy has also been challenged in the High Court of J&K and Ladakh.
The Wire
a day ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Worried Parents of Kashmiri Students in Iran Urge Indian Govt to Explore Evacuation Methods
Srinagar: Moments after a missile struck a sports ground near his apartment in downtown Tehran where he often played cricket, Sabir Bin Ayub, a final-year MBBS student at the Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), dialled his father.'Since the war broke out, he had been hearing faraway sounds of explosions, but now it had reached their neighbourhood,' said Mohammad Ayub, a contractor from Srinagar's Rainawari district while recalling that his son sounded terrified during the phone call on Saturday (June 14).Ayub, whose son was enrolled at IUMS in 2020, said that the area struck by Israel in downtown Tehran was home to dozens of Kashmiris pursuing professional degrees who live in apartment buildings there.'I am concerned about my son. The government should ensure his safety and security and bring him home,' he of anguished Kashmiri parents staged a demonstration in Srinagar's Lal Chowk on Sunday to demand evacuation of their children who study in Iran in the aftermath of the country's military conflict with read: As Israeli Missiles Hit Iran, Indian Students in Tehran Are Being Relocated to Safer AreasAccording to unofficial estimates, about 1,500 Kashmiri students are enrolled in different medical and other professional colleges and universities of Iran while a similar number of Kashmiris were visiting the country for trade and other purposes when the conflict broke National Conference leader and Lok Sabha parliamentarian from Srinagar, Aga Syed Ruhullah said that Hujat Dost Ali hostel in Tehran which is home to many Kashmiri students pursuing MBBS and other degrees was hit by an Israeli strike on Sunday.'Some students have sustained minor injuries. We have urged the government of India to relocate these students to safer places and evacuate them,' he rises up from an oil facility after a Saturday explosion in southern Tehran on June 15, 2025. Photo: AP/ Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also said that the hostel was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in which some students are believed to have sustained minor injuries.'More than 1300+ Kashmiri students study there, who must be in great fear for their lives, while their parents are in great anguish here. We appeal to the Govt of India to take urgent steps to ensure their safety and well-being and possible return. May Allah ﷻprotect them all and grant relief to their anxious families. Let's all pray for their safety—and for the safety of all people living in Iran from Israeli aggression,' he said in a post on and housewife Afroza Jabeen, whose daughter is a second year MBBS student at Arak University of Medical Science, said that her family was in touch with the Indian embassy about the ongoing conflict.'There are some 150 Kashmiri students at the university and all of them want to return home. India has good relations with all the countries. Prime minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian and Ukrainian authorities following which Indian citizens were evacuated from the war zone. Why can't he speak with Israel and Iran, and bring our children home,' Jabeen, a resident of Bemina in Srinagar, urged the Indian government to explore options of evacuating Indian children through Iran's border countries of Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and borderIn a letter shared with The Wire by Jabeen's family, the Indian embassy in Tehran on Sunday (June 15) sought permission from the Iranian authorities to evacuate the Indian and Indian-origin students from Urmia to Armenia due to the 'recent combat-like developments' in Iran.'The Embassy has the honour to refer to the esteemed Ministry for permitting the Embassy to escort those students /Indian origin students to the Norduz border of Armenia via buses. The details of the fleet will be provided subsequently,' the letter in a statement early on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the embassy in Tehran was engaging Indian students for their safety and that 'in some cases' the students are 'being relocated with the embassy's facilitation to safer places within Iran'.'Other feasible options are also under examination,' the ministry said without elaborating, adding that it was separately in touch with 'community leaders regarding welfare and safety' of the students.J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said that he had discussed the issue of safety of Kashmiri students with the external affairs minister S Jaishankar, 'The Hon Minister assured me that @MEAIndia is in close contact with their counterparts in Iran & will take all necessary steps to safeguard all Indian students in Iran,' he posted on to QomAmid rising concerns, Srinagar-resident Ayub spoke with his son on Monday morning who informed him that a fleet of buses was taking foreign students to the historic city of Qom in Iran which is a prominent pilgrimage destination for Shia Muslims.'He was in one of the buses and authorities have assured them that Qom was a safer place than Tehran. I wanted him to become a doctor and we chose Iran because we thought that being a Muslim country he would be safe there. He only has a year to finish his degree. It would be better if the government brings him back till the situation gets better,' Ayub said that her daughter, who lives in the college hostel, has been left terrified by the missiles which streak across the skies over the city of Arak in Iran every night since the conflict broke out. Arak city has been unaffected by the violence so far, she said.'Since Friday evening, all the students have been staying together on the first floor of their hostel and authorities ordered them not to come out. Today, the university resumed classwork and they were asked to attend. The government should not take any risk and instead bring them home,' she said.
The Print
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
National Conference's promise is ‘hanging by a thread': PDP intensifies attack on reserve issue
Highlighting that lieutenant governor administration's 2023 amendment raised quotas to 70 per cent and slashed the open merit share to just 30 per cent, the opposition party said it is a move that the National Conference leaders once vowed to challenge, but now seem increasingly unsure how to make headway. The PDP in its monthly newsletter 'Speak Up' said that Jammu and Kashmir has been for months consumed by one of the most explosive policy battles in recent memory: the radical overhaul of reservation. Srinagar, Jun 17 (PTI) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday cornered the National Conference government on the issue of reservation in Jammu and Kashmir and said intervening decisively on the matter is a test for the ruling party as its promise of dignity, fairness and local empowerment is 'hanging by a thread'. The PDP said the fallout of the change has been swift as from gateway exams to job notifications, the streets and social media is 'filled with frustration'. 'Civil service aspirants, student groups and community leaders across the Valley say the system is rigged, favoring some groups while ignoring others entirely. Official data tells the story: Kashmir received just 14.7 per cent of ST certificates, while Jammu got 85.3 per cent,' the PDP's newsletter said. Escalating its attack, the PDP said the National Conference leaders scrambled to respond caught in this backlash. Referring to Srinagar Lok Sabha MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, the opposition party said, 'One of their MPs even joined student protests, breaking with the party's usual caution.' The PDP said the government formed a Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Education and Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo and promised remedies, but the same department told the high court to dismiss the public interest petition challenging the imbalance. 'Today, a six-month policy review report sits on Omar Abdullah's desk, but it has yet to see the light of day,' the newsletter added. The PDP said the 'vacuum' is now being filled by voices like the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA), whose newly released 15-point proposal calls for a caste-based socio-economic census, restoration of a 60:40 merit-quota ratio, clearer EWS rules and sub-categorization within reserved groups. 'Open Merit candidates preparing for NEET-PG and JKCCE warn that this is more than a quota issue. It is a social fault line, and one that could deepen if ignored,' the newsletter said. The PDP has always stood firm on a simple principle: justice must be rooted in equality, where merit is not sacrificed at the altar of identity, it said. The PDP said the arbitrary expansion of reservation has turned competitive exams into a numbers game, pushing open-category youth to the wall. When policy rewards identity over individual effort, it does not uplift the marginalized. It divides communities and breeds resentment, the party added. The PDP said the National Conference 'came to power promising dignity, fairness and local empowerment'. 'Today, that promise is hanging by a thread. Mixed signals in court, opaque policy reviews, and prolonged silence from leadership are fueling a dangerous cynicism…If the party fails to intervene decisively, it risks being remembered not for reform but for regression,' the opposition party added. The PDP said this is no longer just a policy debate, it is a test of leadership. And in that test, the youth of Kashmir are watching closely, the newsletter said. PTI SSB AS AS This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
