PDP leader Irtija Mufti during a protest against the government’s decision to remove Urdu language from the mandatory qualifications for recruitment to revenue jobs in Srinagar, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (P.T.I.)
Srinagar: A day after Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested a social media user who shared a video of late separatist Syed Ali Geelani in Urdu, PDP leader Irtiya Mufti said he was solely responsible for the content.
She claimed that police had summoned others who shared the video and promised to cooperate, although they did not name her in the statement.
“I take full responsibility for the Urdu video I recently tweeted. I have noticed that others who shared this video have been summoned by @Cyberpolicekmr (Kashmir Cyber Police),” she posted on X.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Irtija appealed to the police not to summon anyone and to ask any pressing questions they may have. “I am a law-abiding citizen and will fully cooperate,” she said.
I take full responsibility for the video I recently tweeted about Urdu. I noticed that others who shared it were being called out. @Cyberpolicekmr. Otherwise, feel free to ask me any pressing questions you may have. I am and will always be a law-abiding citizen…
— Iltija Mufti (@IltijaMufti_) May 1, 2026
The uproar erupted after the Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Department on April 10 released a draft revenue recruitment service that would replace “knowledge of Urdu” with “graduation from any university” for recruitment and promotion to non-gazetted posts such as Naib Tehsildar, Patwari, Gurdwar, etc., and provided objections within 15 days.
Since land records in Jammu and Kashmir since the Dogra Maharaja era have been written in Urdu, Urdu became compulsory for notifications for direct employment in revenue-related jobs in 2009.
Ilija led a protest against the draft rules in Srinagar on Tuesday, citing the removal of Urdu from the draft rules and accusing the Omar Abdullah-led government of “doing what the Maharaja and the Bharatiya Janata Party did not do.” She had also shared a video clip of late separatist leader Geelani on Urdu.
Omar’s government refuted the PDP leader’s claims, saying he was misleading the people. Nasir Aslam Wani, an adviser to Mr Omar, said the revenue department had issued a notice seeking public objections on the matter, which was part of a democratic process to collect feedback before a final decision was taken.
However, Irtiya held a counter press conference and introduced two notifications issued by the revenue department in the last two years regarding recording of income documents in English.
The controversy erupted this month after the revenue department on April 10 issued the draft Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Authority recruitment rules for non-gazetted posts like Naib Tehsildar, Patwari, Gurdwar and other revenue sub-services, which were challenged within 15 days.
The draft law replaced “knowledge of Urdu”, which was mandatory in the previous notification in 2009, with “graduation from any university” as the minimum qualification for direct recruitment in revenue services.
Although Urdu is one of the five official languages, the removal of Urdu from the Revenue Service began with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand for draft rules from the Revenue Service when the government advertised 75 direct recruitment Naib Tehsildar posts in 2025 for which working knowledge of Urdu would be mandatory. However, this was opposed by some candidates in Jammu and supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A few candidates, aggrieved by the mandatory Urdu language and claiming that they were not eligible to appear for the Revenue Services Examination because they did not know Urdu, approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) of the Jammu bench comprising Ram Mohan Johri and Member (J) Rajinder Singh Dogra, which upheld the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Revenue (Junior) Revenue Officers Recruitment Rules, 2009, which mandated “graduation with knowledge”. in Urdu” as a compulsory qualification for the post of Naib Tehsildar. While Urdu is taught to children in schools in the Kashmir Valley, Hindi is preferred in schools in Jammu, Kathua and Samba.
A similar controversy over Urdu erupted in 2015 when two candidates from Jammu region filed a petition in the High Court to remove Urdu as “working knowledge of Urdu” to qualify for the post of Naib Tehsildar.
Urdu has been the official language of J&K for over a century and extensive revenue records have been maintained in Urdu since the reign of Maharaja Pratap. Under Maharaj’s rule, Urdu was replaced by Persian as the official language.
Please also read
- Urdu fight intensifies between government and opposition PDP in Jammu and Kashmir
- ‘Attack on culture and religion’: PDP protests against J&K government’s exclusion of Urdu from revenue department
