PDP’s Iltija Mufti leads protest over "apartheid reservation" policy in J&K

PDP leader Iltija Mufti leads a protest against the J&K reservation policy in Srinagar on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Imran Nissar Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti on Saturday (September 19, 2026) led a street protest in Srinagar over the reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that it had reduced opportunities for open-merit aspirants and demanding that the report of a Cabinet sub-committee examining the policy be made public.Ms. Mufti climbed over the gate of the PDP office in Srinagar after allegedly being locked out by the J&K police. She later came out and addressed the protesters, describing the reservation policy as “reservation apartheid” against open-merit students in Kashmir and alleging that it is keeping “meritorious students from Kashmir out of selection lists”.“There is a shrinking share of opportunities available to open-merit aspirants. We demand transparency in the process of reviewing the existing reservation framework,” said Ms. Mufti.She also demanded that the report of the Cabinet sub-committee constituted to examine and rationalise the reservation policy “be made public without further delay”. “Students and job aspirants have a legitimate right to know what recommendations have been made on an issue that directly affects their educational and employment opportunities,” she said.The PDP protest came days after only 18% of candidates from the Kashmir division made it to the 55-member list of the Combined Competitive Examination for entry into the Jammu & Kashmir Administrative Service and Jammu & Kashmir Accounts (Gazetted) Service.The J&K reservation policy was amended during the period of the Central rule in 2024, which increased the reservation quota for Scheduled Tribes by 20% by including Paharis and also raised the OBC quota to 8%. This reduced the open-merit quota from 50% to 30%.Later, the J&K government formed a Cabinet sub-committee to examine and rationalise the reservation framework. The committee has submitted its report to the Lieutenant Governor, but the report has not been made public yet. According to official data published last year, 67,112 beneficiaries (100%) under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category were from the Jammu region, compared with none from the Kashmir region. Similarly, 4,59,493 people (85.3%) benefited under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category from the Jammu region as against 79,813 (14.7%) from the Kashmir division. The data showed that 2,273 people (7.7%) from the Kashmir region benefited under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, compared with 27,420 people (92.3%) from the Jammu region.Under the Actual Line of Control (ALC) category, 268 people (94.3%) from Jammu benefited, compared with 16 (5.7%) from Kashmir. Under the International Border (IB) category, none from Kashmir benefited, while 551 candidates from Jammu did.Ms. Mufti said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had promised to resolve the reservation issue within six months. “Today, 21 months later, our youth are still on the streets, waiting for the justice they were promised. Our young people deserve equal opportunity, transparency, and a fair future. Their hard-earned degrees should open doors—not leave them feeling hopeless,” she added. Published - September 19, 2026 06:12 pm IST