Jammu and Kashmir Bank is not merely a financial institution in J&K; it is an institution with which people have a deep economic and emotional connection. Any discussion about its lending priorities, recruitment policy, board composition or corporate headquarters, therefore, inevitably acquires a significance that goes beyond conventional banking concerns.

It is against this backdrop that Apni Party president and former finance minister Mr. Altaf Bukhari, during a recent press conference in Srinagar, raised several serious questions concerning the lending pattern, recruitment policy and representative character of the Board of Directors of Jammu and Kashmir Bank. He also referred to the possibility of relocating the bank’s headquarters. The party has sought clarity from the J&K government on these issues, particularly because the government remains the bank’s largest shareholder, with around a 52 percent stake.

The questions raised by Apni Party need to be viewed within the broader framework of its political programme and ideological position. Following the press conference, the party president wrote an article titled “J&K Bank is Our Bank, Let It Remain So,” published in this paper on September 2, 2026, seeking to take the debate forward.

Apni Party describes its ideological approach as a “center-ground, pragmatic and regionalist ideology,” focused largely on socio-economic development and safeguarding the rights of the people. The party has consistently sought to respond to what it considers the rational aspirations of the people of J&K, including the protection of land ownership and government employment for residents of the region. Its intervention in the functioning of J&K Bank is, therefore, also consistent with its larger campaign for employment opportunities for local youth and their meaningful participation in the nation-building process.

But there is a larger issue here that political parties cannot afford to ignore. Across J&K, there is growing pressure on political organizations to address questions of economic insecurity, unemployment and declining opportunities. Political parties are increasingly being judged........

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