Mufti addressed a crowd of students and job seekers, describing the post‑2024 reservation scheme as “reservation apartheid” that she says marginalises open‑merit aspirants from the Kashmir division.
The protest follows the amendment of the J‑K reservation policy during the period of central rule in 2024, which added a 20 % quota for Scheduled Tribes by including Paharis and raised the OBC quota to 8 %, cutting the open‑merit share from 50 % to 30 %.
Official data released last year show a stark regional imbalance: 100 % of Scheduled‑Caste beneficiaries (67,112 people) and 85.3 % of Scheduled‑Tribe beneficiaries (459,493 people) were from the Jammu region, while the Kashmir division received none and 14.7 % respectively.
The figures also reveal that only 2,273 candidates (7.7 %) from Kashmir qualified under the Economically Weaker Section, compared with 27,420 (92.3 %) from Jammu, and that a mere 18 % of Kashmir‑division candidates secured a place on the 55‑member Combined Competitive Examination list for the J&K Administrative and Accounts Services.
Mufti reminded the audience that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had pledged to resolve the reservation issue within six months; 21 months later, she said, the promised reforms have not materialised, leaving young Kashmiris “waiting for the justice they were promised.”
The cabinet sub‑committee tasked with reviewing the reservation framework has submitted its report to the Lieutenant Governor, but the document remains unpublished, prompting the PDP’s demand for transparency and a swift public disclosure.