By Dinesh Manhotra
Three days after launching the People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) to provide an alternative political platform for the people of Kashmir, Peoples Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone raked up the controversial issue of existing reservation rules in the Union Territory to corner the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government. On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) led by Sajad Lone, Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) headed by Hakim Yasin; and the Justice and Development Front (JDF), comprising former Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, announced the formation of a new political alliance. The ruling National Conference has dubbed this new alliance “BJP’s proxy.” “Mark my words: if any report is released by the current government, the Kashmiri-speaking population will take a hit yet again. The only solution, as I have stated earlier, is that the government resumes district-level recruitment for non-gazetted posts and provincial-level recruitment for gazetted posts,” Sajad Lone said, referring to the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee. “I have filed an application under the RTI to obtain some data. That will provide a statistically scientific basis to evaluate the damage inflicted upon the Kashmiri-speaking ethnic group due to reservations,” he said. “We need data on actual merit in examinations held for recruitment. We need data from the last ten recruitment examinations — that means the actual marks scored by the candidates and a merit list without applying reservation rules,” he pointed out. “Next, we obtain the actual selection lists. The difference between the merit list without reservations and the selection list with reservations will reveal the exact damage inflicted on the Kashmiri-speaking ethnic group,” he further added. “These ten lists are a sample. We can expand the sample size to arrive at a statistically significant figure to evaluate the extent of the damage.” “If the government does release any new data or propose a revised reservation policy, we will apply that to the last ten recruitment lists and see whether it changes anything, or makes matters worse for the Kashmiri-speaking ethnic group,” Lone argued. “This is a scientific procedure. Let us end all debates and make decisions purely on a scientific basis. And apply the remedy accordingly,” he asserted. “And let us separate votes from the future of our youngsters. Let dreams not be sacrificed at the altar of vote bank politics,” Lone concluded. PAC opposes existing reservation system in J&K On Monday, Sajad Lone, Hakim Yasin, and the Justice and Development Front (JDF), comprising former Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, announced the formation of a new political alliance. The alliance, named the People’s Alliance for Change (PAC), was unveiled during a joint press conference addressed by Sajad Lone, Hakim Yasin, and Shamim Ahmed Thoker of the JDF — a party formed by a faction of Jamaat-e-Islami, which had fielded candidates in the 2024 Assembly elections. Soon after announcing its formation, the alliance raised the controversial reservation issue in J&K. Labeling the current reservation policy as anti-Kashmir and a tool of disempowerment, the alliance stated: “The present reservation policy is a regional issue and systematically discriminates against the people of Kashmir. Recent recruitment lists released by various departments show an unambiguous pattern.” “Up to ninety percent of jobs are going to the Jammu region. So far, the only party that has raised this as a regional issue has been the People’s Conference. The JDF now joins the People’s Conference in calling it what it is — a regional issue. This is a wake-up call for the people. No other traditional party is willing to call a spade a spade. Instead, they are complicit in this injustice against the people of Kashmir,” the alliance said in a joint declaration.