Omar welcomes new division for Ladakh vows for two more if voted to power

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Friday said he will grant the status of the division to Chenab valley and Pir Panjal region if his party was voted to power in the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir later this year. The former chief minister was reacting to the state government's decision to grant the status of Division to Ladakh region, consisting of Leh and Kargil districts.

"After the elections of 2019, should the people of J&K repose faith in @JKNC_, our government will grant division status to Chenab valley & Pir Panchal regions as already laid out in our regional autonomy promise," Omar tweeted. In a major decision, the Jammu and Kashmir administration Friday created a separate division for Ladakh, which was part of the Kashmir division till now.

Ladakh will now have a separate divisional commissioner and an inspector general of Police (IG) with a full administrative and revenue division at par with Kashmir and Jammu divisions, an order issued by the administration said. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the decision but said she failed to understand the government's intention of ignoring Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal regions which are equally remote and have a much larger population than Ladakh.

"Although Leh and Kargil already have Hill Development Councils, we welcome the decision to grant division status to Ladakh. But I fail to understand what is the intention behind ignoring Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal regions. These are remote areas, the terrain is hilly and the population is much larger," she said. Mehbooba alleged that Governor Satya Pal Malik was peddling BJP agenda by not granting the division status to Chenab valley and Pir Panjal region.

"As far as I remember (during PDP-BJP coalition government), we were talking about granting division status to Chenab valley, Pir Panjal and Ladakh but BJP had opposed it," she added.

(With inputs from agencies.)