Srinagar, Jan 21 (KNS) ; Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference President and MLA Handwara, Sajad Gani Lone, on Tuesday set off a far-reaching political and moral debate on the future administrative architecture of the region, calling for a profound and uncompromising reassessment of the Kashmir-Jammu relationship and openly advocating the possibility of their separation.
Speaking with his trademark bluntness and emotional intensity, Lone addressed the recent remarks of National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, while simultaneously underscoring his personal regard for the veteran leader.
“Farooq Sahib is our elder; I hold him in the highest respect before God, and he is very dear to me. But politically, I am in complete opposition to him,” Lone asserted.
He challenged the foundational assumption behind Abdullah’s insistence on the continued unity of Jammu and Kashmir, asking who actually shoulders the burden of this so-called unity, the entrenched political class or the ordinary people and unemployed youth who pay its price every day.
“India has a population of 1.5 billion. We are barely six or seven million. Aren’t we speaking far beyond our weight? Did we ever sign a contract to safeguard secularism?” he asked, arguing that while Kashmiri leaders routinely claim the moral high ground of secularism, Kashmiri students continue to be beaten, humiliated, and targeted across the country.
He said Kashmiris have never consented to bear this disproportionate burden and that the routine assault on Kashmiri students and shawl sellers in mainland India exposes the hypocrisy behind lofty claims of secular unity used to justify keeping Jammu and Kashmir together.
PC President laid bare the deepening employment catastrophe confronting Kashmiri youth, accusing reservation policies of systematically draining job opportunities from Kashmir and redirecting them to Jammu. “All these jobs that are being diverted to Jammu through reservations, who will pay the price? Who will absorb this loss?” he asked, before answering with biting clarity, “Will the Kashmiri youth pay it? And for what crime?”
He revisited the decisions of the Congress-PDP government, recalling how the introduction of 30 percent reservations in 2007 and the dismantling of District and Divisional cadres in 2010 led to the transfer of thousands of jobs that rightfully belonged to Kashmir into Jammu.
In a deeply personal and revealing account, Lone traced the origins of his political thinking to 2006, when he authored Achievable Nationhood, citing page 159 where he first articulated the idea of an “opt-out option.”
He spoke of the heavy personal cost of articulating these views, including a four-year passport ban imposed by the Congress government. Most painfully, he recounted how his wife, a holder of a Pakistani passport, was barred from entering Kashmir for four years, forcing his children to begin their schooling in Pakistan.
“I stand as a witness. My children studied in Pakistan for their first three years because they were not allowed to come here,” he said, adding starkly that while people from Jammu can say anything across India without consequence, “for a Kashmiri, speech itself becomes a crime; the moment he speaks, a noose is tightened around his neck.”
He admitted that since speaking out the previous day, psychological pressure and attacks had already begun, but insisted with visible anguish, “This is not Delhi speaking through me. This is my bleeding heart.”
Turning his fire towards Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Lone asked searingly, “Do you even understand unemployment? Have you ever seen it inside your own home? You got everything served on a platter.
Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelOur CM Sahib got everything on a platter.” He went on, “Swear by the Quran and tell me, if Mr. Omar were to sit today for the SSRB or PSC exams, would he qualify for a job?” He added, “If the child of a looter already has everything, why do you turn hostile towards the innocent child? They also have dreams, dreams of building homes, raising children, and caring for their parents.”
Lone fiercely dismantled the rhetoric of sacrifice repeatedly invoked by mainstream parties to justify the continued union with Jammu. “You speak of sacrifice, of bloodshed. There is no sacrifice in this arrangement,” he said, before posing a chilling question, “Whose massacre took place in Jammu? Tell me. Just tell me.”
He pointed out that Kashmiri Muslims remain on the frontlines in the fight against militancy, with nearly 90 percent of police martyrs being Kashmiri Muslims, yet solidarity from Jammu or support from the Centre is conspicuously absent at such moments. He further observed that while Kashmiri youths are beaten across India, the relentless campaign of hatred emanating from Jammu, with calls to ‘kill them, crush them, finish them,’ cannot be divorced from the atmosphere of hostility Kashmiris face nationwide.
He also criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for spending 22 of the last 30 days outside Kashmir, questioning his sense of responsibility and remarking, “You can leave anytime. You do not pay the price. The people do.”
Addressing the economic imbalance, Lone argued that Jammu’s economy survives on Kashmir and Kashmiri labour, yet continues to display arrogance, with nearly every major development project being funnelled towards Jammu at Kashmir’s expense.
At the same time, he clarified that separation would not translate into animosity. “Are the people of Maharashtra not our brothers? Are those from Delhi or Gujarat not our brothers? Thousands come here, and they are welcome. In the same spirit, the people of Jammu will remain our brothers tomorrow as well. God willing, even after separation, brotherhood will remain.”
In one of his most provocative assertions, Lone declared, “By God, a solution for Kashmir will emerge. You and Omar Sahib should go and sit in Jammu. Ask Delhi to separate Jammu from Kashmir and stay there. Half the solution lies there. If Kashmir truly matters to you, take the PDP President with you as well. I will write this in blood. After that, no Kashmiri child will be killed by a bullet.”
Anticipating backlash, Lone pre-empted the familiar accusations. “I know what will follow for the next five or six days. They will say BJP is behind this, Delhi is behind this. Tomorrow it will become the Centre’s plot, the RSS plot, the IB plot. For the last 50 or 60 years, everything inconvenient has been branded a plot. Where is your logic?” he asked.
He urged people to abandon recycled narratives and think independently, noting that even ordinary Kashmiris are, for the first time, beginning to calculate how much they have lost by remaining bound to Jammu.
His concluding remarks were both anguished and hopeful. “This is a rare and golden moment for Kashmiris. Do not be misled by hollow slogans of ‘sacrifice.’ You gave no sacrifice. The sacrifice was borne by the poor. It is the poor man’s child who lies in the grave. The wealthy have no graves to mourn, forgive me for saying so. My home sacrificed. We sacrificed. What did you sacrifice? You feast every day.”
He added, “I pray to God that separation becomes possible. It would be a true liberation. But beware, the big crocodiles will invent new stories tomorrow. Still, despite everything, we hope this comes to pass.” (KNS)