A private member’s Bill, introduced by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed Para, is all set to be introduced during the ongoing Session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after getting the nod of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
The Bill, which seeks a divisional status for the Chenab and Pir Panjal regions of Jammu division, has been introduced by Para two months after PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti called for it during a public meeting in Pir Panjal’s Rajouri. Mufti made the demand soon after BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma demanded that Jammu be carved out as a separate state.
While it is unlikely that the Bill will be passed, especially as both the ruling National Conference (NC) and the main opposition party BJP have publicly rejected divisional status for Chenab and Pir Panjal regions, it is significant given the faultlines of J&K politics.
Mountainous regions within Jammu, Pir Panjal (comprising Poonch and Rajouri districts) and Chenab valley (Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts) have political and cultural aspirations distinct from mainland Jammu (Udhampur, Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Reasi districts), and identify more with Kashmir Valley.
Para’s Bill seeks separate divisional status for Pir Panjal and Chenab valley, as well as redrawing of boundaries to create 16 more districts across J&K (eight each in Kashmir and Jammu regions).
The stands it takes on the Bill will expose the NC’s lack of clarity on the issue, with president Farooq Abdullah taking a stand contrary to that taken by the party in the past, in terming Mufti’s demand for divisional status to Pir Panjal and Chenab as “divisive”.
A demand for divisional status for Pir Panjal and Chenab is not new, with leaders from both regions having campaigned for either that or a hill development council, accusing mainland Jammu of discrimination in development. Over the past decades, many Bills and resolutions have been brought in the Assembly seeking regional autonomy for the two regions, especially the Chenab valley.
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In 2019 too, when a separate division was announced for Ladakh while it was still a part of J&K, the PDP had demanded separate divisions for the two Jammu regions.
Para told The Indian Express that the basic idea behind the Bill is “decentralisation of administration, especially in hilly areas”. “These are strategic areas and people have to travel 200 km to get their grievances addressed at the divisional level.”
On seeking redrawing of administrative boundaries, he said: “The hilly and remote regions like Gurez have a GoC (General Officer Commanding, of the Army). Tangdhar has a Brigadier. Why can’t a senior bureaucrat be posted there to resolve people’s grievances?”
He added that the ongoing Session is the most appropriate time for the Bill. “Since the Census is happening, there will be delimitation. It is the right time for administrative decentralisation.”
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While opposing Mufti’s demand for divisional status to Pir Panjal and Chenab earlier this year, Farooq Abdullah had compared it to the “Dixon plan”. This was a reference to a proposal by Sir Owen Dixon for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute before Partition, which suggested that Ladakh be given to India while the northern areas and what is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir be given to Pakistan. He also 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.
Abdullah had also called the PDP suggestion as toeing a “Greater Kashmir” concept. This is in line with what the BJP argues, accusing the PDP of “speaking Pakistan’s language” in seeking separate divisions for the two Jammu regions and saying this amounts to a ‘Greater Kashmir’, formed by absorbing Jammu’s Muslim-majority belts into Kashmir.
This stand by the NC was in contrast to its own promise in 2019 to give divisional status to Pir Panjal and Chenab valley if it came to power. On February 8, 2019, before the abrogation of special status of J&K, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah posted on X: “… 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… We will take care of regional and sub-regional aspirations.”
The NC’s perceived change of stand could be politically costly for the party given that it won six of the 15 seats in the two regions in the 2024 Assembly elections. The two Independents who won from these areas also support the NC government.
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The BJP had won four seats in the elections. The PDP, which had not won any, clearly hopes that Para’s Bill would give it a foothold in the two regions.
All Bills which have financial implications are sent to the LG for clearance in J&K as financial concurrence powers are with his office.