Eight months after taking away the special status and statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) announced on April 1 a new domicile law for government jobs in the Union territory. The new law granted domicile status for anyone who has lived in Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years or has studied there for seven years and appeared in either class X or class XII examinations or has been a Central government employee for 10 years, and allowed them to apply for government jobs. Children of those who fulfilled these criteria were also made eligible. The order, in fact, allowed all Indian citizens—with or without domicile status—to apply for government jobs in Kashmir, except for class-IV jobs, which are reserved for permanent residents.
Earlier, only permanent residents could apply for government jobs, buy property and vote in elections. Article 35A of the Constitution had defined permanent resident as a person who was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or had been living in Jammu and Kashmir for ten years, and had lawfully acquired immovable property.
The new order was rejected by political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including the BJP-backed J&K Apni Party, which was formed after the abrogation of Article 370. A spokesperson for the party said the order was an attempt to disenfranchise the people of Jammu and Kashmir who genuinely believed that their privileges in the matter of employment and other rights would remain unaffected even after the abrogation of Article 370.
Omar Abdullah, former chief minister and vice president of the National Conference, said the government slipped in the new domicile law when the country was busy fighting Covid-19. “You can imagine how hollow the domicile law is from the fact that even the new party created with Delhi’s blessings, whose leaders were lobbying in Delhi for this law, have been forced to criticise the #JK domicile law,” tweeted Omar. Surinder Singh, general secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, said the law was “frighteningly ambivalent, irresolute and akin to rubbing salt into the people’s wounds”.
Perhaps unnerved by the massive and unanimous protest against the new law, the MHA on April 3 amended it, reserving all government jobs for those domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir. It, however, has kept unchanged the new definition of domicile status. The move came after BJP leaders in Jammu alerted their leaders in Delhi about the growing anger in Jammu and after Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on April 2 in Delhi. The amendment has helped calm tempers in Jammu, but not in the valley where most people believe that the law is aimed at changing the demography of Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.
Job reservation for permanent residents enjoyed constitutional protection till the abrogation of Article 370. Without constitutional protection, the MHA’s amended order reserving all jobs in Jammu and Kashmir for those with domicile status may not mean much. According to the latest MHA statistics, there are over 84,000 vacancies in Jammu and Kashmir, which are now up for grabs to those who fulfil the new domicile criteria. “Reserving all jobs for domiciles means nothing since there are thousands of outsiders who have become residents of Jammu and Kashmir overnight by virtue of an order and they can apply for all jobs,’’ said a university student in Jammu. “That further reduces the chances of locals.” Furqaan Ahmed, a teacher, said the new domicile law was totally unjust. “First, Article 370 was abolished and now they brought this new domicile law, which has opened the floodgates for outsiders.”
Kashmir’s grand mufti Nasir-ul-Islam said the new law was unacceptable. “It comes at a time when a pandemic has engulfed the entire world. We totally oppose it.” A spokesperson for separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the process to change the demographic character of Jammu and Kashmir started in August 2019 and the domicile order was a part of it. “Such orders are meant to settle outsiders in Jammu and Kashmir,” said the spokesperson. “These attempts undermine the efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. It is also an assault on the prospects of employment and growth of our youth and [an attempt] to erode the unique cultural heritage.”
The immediate beneficiaries of the new domicile law are the personnel of the Army and the Central police forces and Central government employees who have served in Kashmir for at least 10 years. The government has also created a land bank which will be used for creating housing colonies for Kashmiri Pandits, setting up industries and colonies for their workers and creating necessary infrastructure.
Locals in Kashmir, however, feel that the impending demographic change will further fuel militancy and greater alienation. The foiling of a major infiltration bid in which five militants and five special forces commandos were killed in a five-day operation which began on April 1 in the Keran sector of Kupwara points to the possibility that Kashmir is looking at a violent summer.