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In an official press statement, Lone has said the time has come for “amicable divorce” between Jammu and Kashmir divisions

SRINAGAR | JANUARY 15, 2026:

Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone has said the time has arrived to “reconsider the administrative arrangement” between Kashmir and Jammu divisions. Lone is the first political leader from the Valley to openly call for separation of the two distinct regions of Jammu & Kashmir after renewed calls for separate Jammu state by some pro-BJP elements.

In an official press statement, Lone has said the time has come for “amicable divorce” between Jammu and Kashmir divisions.

“Maybe time has come for an amicable divorce. It is not only about developmental matters. Jammu has become the proverbial stick to beat the Kashmiri with,” the statement said. “I think the people of Kashmir too can’t take it anymore… I am sure the desire for divorce is much, much higher in Kashmir than it ever was. Need leadership to call a spade a spade”.

While questioning Jammu’s “obsessive opposition to developmental initiative” in Kashmir, Lone accused the Jammu based leadership of “selective courage”, saying they remained silent when centre took away everything from them, diverted business’ and stopped the Darbar move. “(They) demonstrate valour only against their own Kashmir region,” he said.

Last week, BJP leader and legislator Sham Lal Sharma stoked controversy by demanding a separate state for Jammu. While the BJP has distanced itself from Sharma’s statement, his demand has re-ignited the calls for separate state for Jammu.

Lone said Kashmir’s integration with India cannot be facilitated through “intermediaries who continuously malign the region”. “If Kashmir is to integrate with the rest of the country, it will have to be done without the thrusted service of touts,” he said. “We cannot have a region slandering Kashmiris non-stop and petitioning the rest of the country that only one region in J&K is with the country and that the other region is a terrorist region.”

Lone urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to honour his promise to set-up the National Law University (NLU) at Budgam.

“The sanctity of the institution of CM demands that he lives up to his promise and keep it there,” Lone said. “And this Jammu thing. I hope Jammu prospers. But this obsession of having everything and anything that Kashmir wants is more of an issue of lunacy. They have an IIM. What is wrong if a Law University comes to Kashmir.”