Srinagar: The People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly opposed the decision to remove Urdu as a mandatory qualification from revenue recruitment rules in Indian illegally Jammu and Kashmir, with observers describing the move as part of a broader and deliberate strategy to marginalize a language deeply rooted in Islamic literature and Muslim cultural identity in the territory.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the IIOJK administration has recently removed Urdu, previously an indispensable qualification for revenue services, from the newly amended draft recruitment rules. This development comes nearly a year after the BJP protested and demanded revocation of a government order that made Urdu a compulsory language for the naib tehsildar recruitment examination in the territory.
In a statement in Srinagar, the PDP said the decision undermines both administrative continuity and the cultural identity of IIOJK. The party asserted that the move represents a deliberate attempt to sideline Urdu from the territory\u2019s administrative framework, despite its longstanding role in governance. It noted that Urdu has historically formed the backbone of revenue records, land documentation, and official communication in the territory. Removing it from recruitment criteria, it warned, would not only create practical challenges in handling existing records but also disrupt institutional continuity.
Describing the decision as \u201cculturally insensitive\u201d and \u201cadministratively unsound,\u201d the PDP said that any dilution of Urdu\u2019s role would weaken the governance systems that have relied on the language for decades. The party further said that the move is part of a broader pattern of policy changes aimed at altering the linguistic and cultural identity of the region. Highlighting public sentiment, the PDP said Urdu maintains a deep-rooted connection with the people and continues to play a significant role in official and social spheres. The PDP urged the authorities to immediately withdraw the notification and restore Urdu as an essential qualification for revenue posts, warning that any attempt to diminish the status of the language would be opposed.
Kashmir watchers emphasized that Urdu is not merely a language of administration in IIOJK but a vital carrier of the territory\u2019s civilizational ethos, with strong links to Islamic scholarship and Muslim cultural traditions. They stressed that sidelining Urdu is actually aimed at weakening these historical and cultural linkages.
Notably, Urdu has been the official language of J&K for over a century. However, following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the BJP-led Indian government, in a move widely seen as diluting the status of Urdu, passed the J&K Official Languages Bill 2020 in the Parliament adding four more languages, including Dogri, Kashmiri, Hindi and English, to the existing Urdu as official language.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Srinagar: The People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly opposed the decision to remove Urdu as a mandatory qualification from revenue recruitment rules in Indian illegally Jammu and Kashmir, with observers describing the move as part of a broader and deliberate strategy to marginalize a language deeply rooted in Islamic literature and Muslim cultural identity in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/02\/Mehbooba-slams-J-and-K-Assembly-speaker-accuses-him-of-imposing-form-of-martial-law.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198789"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198801,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198789\/revisions\/198801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}