SRINAGAR: MLA Handwara, Sajad Lone on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the police verification system in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, alleging it operates as a form of collective punishment that is depriving young people of employment and professional opportunities across the Union Territory.
Addressing the House, the Handwara MLA said individuals were being denied police clearance on the basis of alleged actions of relatives, including cases where the concerned family members were deceased. He argued that the practice was having a widespread impact on youth seeking jobs and professional licences.
Citing a case from Baramulla district, Lone said a young man selected for a job valued at Rs 2 lakh in Hyderabad was denied clearance because his uncle had allegedly been an overground worker. According to Lone, the uncle had in fact been killed earlier by militants, yet the application was rejected.
“In many cases the youth were born after the death of the person because of whom they are being penalised. Are they not Indians? What will they do now?” Lone told the Assembly, adding that medical graduates were also being prevented from practising due to adverse verification reports.
He urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to raise the issue with the Union government in New Delhi, saying the matter required urgent intervention in view of the scale of distress among young people.
Lone also criticised demolition drives, stating that while senior officials had visited affected families in certain instances, the government’s formal replies in the House had defended the actions. He described the situation as contradictory and warned of long-term consequences.
Referring to developments in his constituency of Handwara, Lone said 55 shopkeepers who had acquired premises through government auctions decades earlier had been served eviction notices. He cautioned that such administrative measures could lead to dispossession if circumstances changed.
On tourism-related regulation, Lone questioned the necessity of municipal permissions for homestays in areas where such approvals had not historically been required, though he acknowledged the need for police intimation on security grounds. He said excessive procedural requirements risked undermining livelihoods.
The legislator also raised concerns over daily wagers, criticising what he described as a dismissive tone in public discourse on their regularisation. He urged authorities to adopt a more empathetic approach if immediate policy relief was not forthcoming.
Lone’s intervention formed part of wider deliberations in the Assembly on governance measures, livelihoods and administrative practices in the Union Territory.
