Jammu Kashmir Assembly Witnesses Uproar Over BJP Leader's Remarks On Pir Panjal Region

By Amir Tantray

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has witnessed a ruckus on Wednesday over alleged disrespect to the Pir Panjal region by the Leader of Opposition (LOP) Sunil Sharma, with the legislators from the area demanding an apology from him.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary Satish Sharma also slammed Sharma for his alleged disrespectful remarks to people who sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty of the country.

As the sloganeering rocked the House and members didn't pay any heed to the request from the Chair, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Congress MLA from Rajouri, Iftikhar Choudhary, stood up and straightaway asked the LoP to apologise for his disrespect to the Pir Panjal region as soon as the question hour ended.

Members of the Legislative Assembly during an uproar over reported remarks of Leader of Opposition (LoP) that Pir Panjal does not exist, during the Budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, in Jammu, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (PTI)

Iftikhar was countered by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, and both had a face-off. He was joined by Independent MLA Choudhary Muhammad Akram, NC MLA Aijaz Jan and other National Conference (NC) MLAs.

“Whatever LOP has said is disrespectful to the martyrs of border areas, as we, the people, have faced bullets on our chests to protect the sovereignty of the country. Disrespecting the region is an insult to martyrs, and LOP should apologise,” Deputy CM said in the House.

During his interaction with the media earlier, LoP Sharma had allegedly said that “Pir Panjal does not exist, but the Jammu region does.”

Pir Panjal consists of Rajouri and Poonch districts and parts of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, and the BJP has avoided this nomenclature. But now LoP’s rejection of the word ‘Pir Panjal’ has irked the MLAs from the area.

Meanwhile, BJP MLAs today staged a walkout from the Assembly, alleging discrimination in the time given to the party MLAs to speak on the motion of thanks on the Lieutenant Governor's (LG's) address.

Members of the Legislative Assembly during an uproar over reported remarks of Leader of Opposition (LoP) that Pir Panjal does not exist, during the Budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, in Jammu, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (PTI)

All the BJP MLAs, led by LoP Sharma, walked out and staged a protest demonstration outside the House on the stairs in protest against the Speaker for not giving them time.

When they were protesting outside, NC MLA from Gurez, Nazir Ahmed Gurezi, requested that the speaker send a representative from the House to request BJP MLAs come inside the House.

The Speaker asked Gurezi to go and bring the BJP MLAs back, and within 10 minutes, they became part of the proceedings of the House.

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