Will revoke PSA, “get back jailed youth soon after J&K re-gains statehood: Sakina in Assembly

10/02/2026

JAMMU, Feb 9: Minister Sakina Itoo on Monday said that the Public Safety Act (PSA), will be revoked soon after the Union Territory regains statehood.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, the Minister Itoo, said it was during the PDP-BJP government that youth were arrested and shifted to prisons outside Jammu and Kashmir.
“I want to remind them that when the PDP-BJP was in power, children were detained and sent to jails outside the region,” she said, rejecting attempts to blame the National Conference for such actions.
On the PSA, Sakina Itoo said the National Conference has already made its position clear in its manifesto. She stated that the party has committed to working towards the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and that once statehood is regained, steps will be taken to repeal the PSA and get back youth jailed outside J&K.
She clarified that at present, the elected government does not have control over the Home Department. “When the Home Department comes to us, we will review the issue of PSA and related cases,” she said.
The Minister’s remarks came amid an intense debate in the House over youth lodged in jails outside Jammu and Kashmir and the revocation of the Public Safety Act.
Sakeena also announced that the government is actively considering the de-freezing of teacher positions to address the shortage of educators in schools across Jammu and Kashmir.
In response to a question from MLA Pawan Kumar Gupta of the BJP during the legislative assembly session, the minister explained that the recruitment of teacher positions was frozen by the lieutenant governor-led State Administrative Council in 2018. She emphasised that the government is making efforts to lift this freeze to expedite the recruitment process within the department.
Itoo noted that 594 lecturer positions in 27 disciplines have been referred to the J-K Public Service Commission. Additionally, 727 non-teaching posts and 43 multi-tasking staff positions have been sent to the finance department for revival or concurrence.
Regarding the filling of vacant teacher positions, she said that these posts have been frozen for the transition of Regularised Rehbar-e-Taleem (RRETs), Teacher Grade II and III, to resolve salary issues for educators engaged under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan program.
The education minister also mentioned that in 2025-2026, a total of 258 senior lecturers have been elevated as in-charge principals, besides 56 PG Masters and teachers have been elevated as in-charge lecturers.
Itoo also stated that 551 postgraduate masters and teachers have been appointed as in-charge headmasters, and a proposal for the placement of over 500 additional masters as headmasters is currently under consideration by the department.
Additionally, 80 headmasters have been elevated to the position of in-charge Zonal Education Officers. In the non-gazetted cadre, 1,170 teachers have been promoted to masters in the 2025-2026 academic year, the minister said

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