Ahead of the upcoming session of the Legislative Assembly, Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone on Thursday lashed out at the government over the latest JKAS and J&K Accounts (Gazetted) appointments, terming the process as “recruitment apartheid” against the Kashmir Valley.

In a post on X, Lone said that out of 55 JKAS and J&K Accounts (Gazetted) officers selected, only 10 are from the Kashmir Valley. “So against a population ratio of 56%, inhabitants of Kashmir have got 18% of the jobs,” Lone said.

He added that the Chief Minister should have kept himself away from distributing appointment orders. “Incidentally, appointment orders were given by CM sahib. Ideally, he should have kept away,” he remarked.

Lone alleged that the current reservation framework amounts to recruitment apartheid against the Valley. “It is persecution of the inhabitants of the Kashmir Valley—a strategy to disempower and marginalise them,” he said.

He further argued that the cabinet recommendation on reservation would not make much difference. “This Kashmir region’s 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,” Lone said.

The Peoples Conference chief announced that he will raise the issue in the Assembly through appropriate legislative devices. “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 the Kashmir Valley,” he said. (KNO)