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| 36 Years of Exile,Kashmiri migrant students are still denied equal educational rights in their own Homeland | | JKPF demands immediate Notification of a 5% Supernumerary Quota in Professional Colleges and Universities of J&K |
New Delhi,July 11 (Scoop News)-For over thirty-six years, successive Governments have spoken about the return, rehabilitation and justice for Kashmiri Migrants. Every political party has expressed sympathy. Every election has carried promises. Every administration has spoken about rehabilitation.
Yet one fundamental question remains unanswered: If the Government of India has already recognised the educational hardships of Kashmiri Migrants, why has the Government of Jammu & Kashmir failed to do the same?
The JK Peace Forum has submitted a detailed representation to the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Minister for Education and the Relief Commissioner, demanding the immediate creation of a 5% Supernumerary Quota for Registered Kashmiri Migrants in all professional and higher educational institutions across Jammu & Kashmir from the Academic Session 2026-27.
The demand is neither extraordinary nor unprecedented.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education), Government of India, through Letter No. F.No.3-4/2017-NER dated 15 October 2019, has already recognised the exceptional circumstances faced by Kashmiri Migrants. Pursuant to this policy, institutions across India have provided special concessions including relaxation in admission criteria, supernumerary seats, increased intake and other educational benefits to displaced students.
The irony is painful. A Kashmiri Migrant student can receive special consideration in institutions located thousands of kilometres away from Kashmir, yet the same student is denied similar protection in Jammu & Kashmir—the land from which his or her family was forcibly displaced.
If this is not a policy contradiction, what is? If educational rehabilitation is justified throughout the country, why is it absent in the homeland of the displaced community? For thirty-six years, Kashmiri Migrant families have waited for justice. One generation lost its homes, businesses, educational institutions and livelihoods. Another generation was born in exile and has never known its ancestral homeland except through stories told by parents and grandparents.\ Today, those children are competing for admission into professional colleges without any meaningful educational rehabilitation policy from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir. How long must they continue to pay the price for a tragedy they never created?
Rehabilitation cannot be limited to preserving abandoned properties or announcing financial packages. Rehabilitation is incomplete if it does not secure the future of displaced children. Education is not a concession. It is the foundation upon which dignity, opportunity and meaningful rehabilitation are built.
It is deeply disappointing that despite decades of discussions on the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants, no Government in Jammu & Kashmir has considered it necessary to create even a single dedicated educational quota for registered migrant students in professional institutions.
This silence speaks louder than speeches.
The proposed 5% Supernumerary Quota is a balanced and practical solution. It does not seek to reduce a single seat from any existing category. It does not affect the rights of any other student. It simply creates additional seats for a community that has lived through one of independent India's longest periods of internal displacement.
The proposed quota should cover admissions to Medical Colleges, Dental Colleges, AYUSH institutions, Nursing Colleges, Engineering Colleges, Government Universities, Management Institutions, Law Colleges, Agriculture and Veterinary Colleges, as well as postgraduate and doctoral programmes.
This is not merely an administrative decision. It is a test of the Government's commitment to justice.
The Constitution of India under Articles 14, 15, 21 and 46 mandates equality, protection of vulnerable sections and promotion of educational opportunities. The Jammu & Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997 itself recognises that Kashmiri Migrants constitute a distinct displaced community requiring continued protection and rehabilitation.
If the Government can acknowledge displaced status while protecting migrant properties, why does that recognition disappear when the same displaced families seek educational opportunities for their children?
The questions are simple, and the people of Jammu & Kashmir deserve honest answers.
Why has the Government of Jammu & Kashmir not implemented the educational policy already recognised by the Government of India?
Why have successive Governments remained silent while thousands of migrant students continue to compete without any educational rehabilitation mechanism?
Why has every political party spoken about rehabilitation but ignored one of its most essential pillars—higher education?
Why should a Kashmiri Migrant student receive greater educational support outside Jammu & Kashmir than within his or her own homeland?
These are not political questions. They are questions of justice.
The JK Peace Forum calls upon the Government of Jammu & Kashmir to immediately issue the notification creating a 5% Supernumerary Quota for Registered Kashmiri Migrants in all professional and higher educational institutions from the Academic Session 2026-27.
After thirty-six years of exile, another academic session must not pass while displaced students continue to be denied opportunities that have already been recognised elsewhere in the country.
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