Chenab Valley Is Still Waiting to Be Seen

For years, the people of Chenab Valley have asked for fair treatment. Their fight is not for power, it's for a place at the table.

- Ayaan Saroori

Between the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir, where the Chenab River flows through Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban, one question remains: when will the Chenab Valley finally be seen?

For decades, this region has asked for basic recognition. It has asked to be heard.

And yet, it remains on the margins, stitched into maps but cut out of decisions that shape its future.

On Monday, June 30, Anzer Ayoob, a journalist from the region, said it plainly. “There is no reservation for the Chenab Valley,” he wrote in a post on X. “Every Chen-abi knows the discrimination that has held us back.”

The scribe was not making a new demand. He was giving words to what many already know: the region is falling behind.

The schools, the roads, the jobs are never enough. The potholed streets of Kishtwar speak for themselves. This is a place that powers the rest of the region through hydro-electric projects like Dul Hasti and Ratle, yet the benefits rarely stay. The gains move downstream. The risks remain.