Jammu and Kashmir’s unemployment rate is nearly 38 per cent and the government has “hands up” in the face of the crisis, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Thursday, accusing the administration of failing to address growing economic distress and frustration among the people.“Today unemployment is so high that in Jammu and Kashmir the unemployment rate is nearly 38 per cent,” Mehbooba said while speaking at a party joining programme.
She said the government had failed to create adequate employment opportunities and was instead relying on outsourcing and temporary arrangements.
“Government has put its hands up,” she said, alleging that people were being recruited through “backdoor” arrangements and that daily-wage workers were being engaged instead of being provided permanent jobs.
Mehbooba said doctors, engineers and other sections of the workforce were facing uncertainty, while protests had become increasingly common across Jammu and Kashmir.
“People are protesting everywhere,” she said, referring to protests involving doctors, interns, veterinary staff, nursing staff and anganwadi workers.
She also linked the growing public frustration to inflation and inadequate salaries and stipends.
“On one hand, inflation has increased so much, and on the other, people’s salaries and their stipends are such that people are distressed,” she said. “Especially the youth are distressed; there is suffocation.”
Mehbooba said the overall situation had left the administrative system in disarray.
“That is why the entire system is in disarray,” she said.
She argued that the PDP needed to strengthen itself to confront what she described as the growing challenges facing Jammu and Kashmir, saying the issue was not merely about returning to power. “It is not just about power,” Mehbooba said. “Given the situation at this time, if there is any party in Jammu and Kashmir that can confront these circumstances, if there is any party that raises its voice or can raise it to change the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, I think it is the PDP.”
Mehbooba also invoked the political legacy of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, recalling the party's role in the early 2000s.
She said the changes associated with the PDP during that period extended beyond Jammu and Kashmir and influenced thinking in both New Delhi and Islamabad.
“When the PDP came, a change came here. The system changed, and that change had not only come in Jammu and Kashmir; it also came in the thinking in Delhi and Islamabad, because of which the process of dialogue began, routes opened and development took place,” she said.
Welcoming the new entrants into the party, including members who had travelled from Jammu, Mehbooba said their joining would help strengthen the PDP across the Union Territory.
“Many storms came, but we remained steadfast and continued to face the challenges,” she said.
“I hope that with today’s joining, our party will become stronger throughout Jammu and Kashmir,” she added.