Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference Chairman and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone delivered a sharply worded response to reports hinting at possible changes in the Union Territory’s reservation framework, saying he had “no idea whether to believe the Indian Express report about reservations” yet the very apprehensions he voiced months ago now appeared to be unfolding.
Recalling his July 3 warning, Lone said he had long feared that “whatever changes, if any, are made will come at the cost of the Kashmiri speaking population”.
He asserted that even the BJP, during its tenure, refrained from tampering with the Reserved Backward Area category.
“I can say it on authority that in the BJP reign, while taking a decision on reservations, even the BJP got scared and at the last moment decided not to touch RBA. The reason being that this is the only form of reservation where Kashmiris get some relief,” he said. “What the BJP did not dare do to Kashmiris, it seems, if the Indian Express report is true, the NC has now done.”
Accusing the National Conference of reverting to its old ways, Lone said, “They have historically acted as the errand boys in every fixed match between Delhi and Srinagar.”
He dismissed the argument that certain provisions could not be altered because they originated in Parliament. “What is this fallacious claim that ST has been decided by Parliament and hence cannot be changed? The 60–40 ratio between reserved and open merit is itself a by-product of that decision. By that logic nothing can ever be changed.”
Lone said the issue was not legal impossibility but political unwillingness. “The reality staring us in the face is that you can change anything and everything. But you choose not to. You hide behind falsehood, lies and deception.”
Questioning the basis of the reported changes, he demanded transparency about the government’s legal rationale. “Who gave this legal opinion? Who decided the final outcome? Was it the product of research, or whim, or electoral expedience? Can the government share the parameters of this so-called research? Do we even know who these illustrious researchers were?”
Warning that the administration was pushing Jammu and Kashmir towards deeper instability, Lone added, “This government will go down in history with the odium and contempt it deserves. It seems determined to turn every stone it can to engineer a societal disaster of unimaginable proportions. This government has become an existential threat to Kashmiris.”
Reiterating his long-standing position, he urged the restoration of district-level recruitment for non-gazetted posts and divisional recruitment for gazetted posts. Concluding with an old maxim, he remarked, “A bull does not become king by walking into a palace; it is the palace that becomes a barn.”
He recalled that he had already cautioned, “Mark my words. If any report is released by the current government, the Kashmiri speaking population will take a hit yet again.” Lone insisted that reinstating district recruitment and provincial recruitment remains the only credible safeguard for fairness.
