House detentions, strict missive? What forced 'Open Merit' students to call off quota protest in Srinagar

File photo of 'Open Merit 'protest outside the CM residence in Srinagar.

• J-K leaders reportedly under house arrest before sit-in protest over quotas
• Students in Srinagar reconsider protest over reduced Open Merit reservation quota.
• Cabinet sub-committee formed to review grievances on reservation rules in J-K

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The alleged house detention of senior leaders from Jammu and Kashmir -- National Conference’s Aga Syed Ruhullah, Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Iltija Mufti and Waheed-ur-Rehmaan Parra have led to the reconsideration by the students from the 'Open Merit' category in Kashmir to go ahead with their sit-in protest in Srinagar over “unfair reservation quota”.

Under the reservation policy, the ’Open Merit’ or OM quota has been reduced to 40% or even less, in what activists argued was brazen disregard to the Supreme Court guidelines, which has capped the OM quota at 50%. The policy has been challenged by some aggrieved petitioners in J&K high court who have termed it as “unreasonable and illogical”. “This issue is not against any specific community or class. It is about upholding the constitution and the rule of law,” a petition in the court noted.

The anger against the reservation policy in the higher educational institutions and government departments of the Union territory gained momentum after the Omar Abdullah government was sworn into office in October this year.

Earlier today, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, representing the Srinagar constituency in Lok Sabha, and Waheed Para, the Pulwama MLA, had said that a heavy contingent of J-K Police and paramilitary forces has been put outside their residences to prevent them from joining a sit-in protest. Former Srinagar mayor Junid Mattu has also been put under house detention.

Earlier this month, the Abdullah government announced the formation of a cabinet sub-committee that has been tasked to “examine the grievances projected by a section of aspirants for various posts regarding Reservation Rules, in consultation with all stakeholders”.

In a post on X, National Conference MP Ruhullah Mehdi posted on X on Saturday night that armed police have been deployed outside his residence. "Is this a pre-emptive crackdown to silence a peaceful, pro-student demonstration?" he posed. Para, on the other hand, accused the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir of showing zero intent to resolve the reservation issue, saying the existing quota policy has become an existential matter.