On Monday, former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti demanded divisional status for the Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley regions of Jammu. The demand for divisional status for the twin regions came after BJP leader Sham Lal Sharma demanded that Jammu be carved out as a separate state.
Both the ruling National Conference and BJP have slammed Mufti for the suggestion. While the BJP has accused Mufti of parroting “Pakistan’s language”, the NC has compared the proposal to the “Dixon plan” of 1950.
What is behind PDP’s demand?
While addressing a public meeting in Rajouri on Monday, Mufti made the case for divisional status for Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley. “Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley face serious administrative neglect. Their topography, vulnerability to environmental hazards, and distance from decision-making centres make divisional status the need of the hour,” Mufti said, adding that her demand is “not political rhetoric” but an “administrative necessity”, and that governance must reach people at their doorsteps, especially in border and mountainous areas.
Pir Panjal and Chenab are mountainous regions comprising five districts of the Jammu region. The twin regions have distinct political and cultural aspirations from mainland Jammu. While Pir Panjal comprises the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, the Chenab region comprises Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts. Currently, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is split across two divisions, each with 10 districts.
The demand for divisional status for the twin regions is not new, and their political and social leaders have campaigned for a hill development council or divisional status, while claiming discrimination in development compared to mainland Jammu – comprising Udhampur, Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Reasi.
Over the decades, many Bills and resolutions have been brought in the erstwhile J&K state Assembly seeking regional autonomy for the two regions, especially Chenab valley.
In February 2019 too, the PDP had sought separate divisions for Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley. The party’s remarks came a day after the administration created a separate division of Ladakh, while it was still a part of J&K.
How has the BJP reacted?
The BJP, some of whose leaders have raised the demand for a separate Jammu state, criticised the PDP chief. “Mehbooba Mufti is not speaking for the people of Pir Panjal or Chenab Valley. She is repeating the language of Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which has always dreamt of creating a so-called ‘Greater Kashmir’ by gradually absorbing Jammu’s Muslim-majority belts into Kashmir,” BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said.
BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma, who earlier this month demanded division of J&K and statehood for Jammu, earlier raised this demand in 2010, when he was a minister in the NC-Congress government.
In 2024, after the J&K Assembly elections, BJP leader Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali had said that the people of the border Rajouri and Poonch districts should demand that they be carved out from J&K into a separate Union Territory. At the time, J&K BJP working president Sat Sharma said the party is against any demand seeking division of J&K, saying Ali’s demand was “against the interests of the people of the UT and the nation”.
In 2002, the RSS had called for “trifurcation” of the then J&K state, into two separate states of Jammu and Kashmir, and a UT of Ladakh.
Why did NC compare PDP demand to ‘Dixon plan’?
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah termed Mufti’s demand to grant divisional status to Pir Panjal and Chenab as “divisive”, comparing it to the “Dixon plan”, “an old plan to divide J&K along the Chenab River, making it ‘Greater Kashmir’.”
The “Dixon plan” refers to a proposal by Sir Owen Dixon, an Australian judge who visited the subcontinent after the 1950 United Nations resolution on the Kashmir conflict. Dixon proposed that Ladakh be permanently given to India while the northern areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir be given to Pakistan. He advocated for the Jammu region to be split between India and Pakistan along the Chenab River, and the people of the Kashmir Valley to be given a choice to decide their own fate through a plebiscite.
CM Omar Abdullah said the demand for separate statehood for Jammu by some BJP leaders showed that the party’s politics had failed. “You couldn’t handle Ladakh. Why are you ruining Jammu? Somehow, their politics has failed, and they suddenly remembered statehood for Jammu,” the CM said.
Has NC changed its stance?
Incidentally, in 2019, when the Ladakh region was given a separate division while J&K was under President’s Rule, Omar Abdullah had promised divisional status for Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley if the NC were to come to power.
“After the elections of 2019, should the people of J&K repose faith in the NC, our government will grant division status to Chenab Valley and Pir Panchal regions as already laid out in our regional autonomy promise,” Omar posted on X on February 8, 2019. “We will take care of regional and sub-regional aspirations. We won’t adopt the pick-and-choose approach of the Governor but will instead take a holistic view and address the wider problems. Our regional autonomy document will be our template.”
The NC’s change of stance on divisional status for Pir Panjal and Chenab may have political consequences for the party. In the 2024 Assembly elections, the NC had ensured that the PDP could not get a foothold in the two regions.