Willing To Dissolve Assembly For J&K Statehood Restoration: CM Omar Abdullah

“I have read in a newspaper that statehood will be restored but assembly elections would have to be held afresh. Do it. Who has stopped you?”, he said while speaking to reporters at Gulmarg, the Valley’s premier ski resort, 42-km from here.

The Chief Minister added, “We are not worried about our kursi (chair). If we are being threatened that for (the restoration of) statehood the Assembly has to be dissolved. Do it. A day after you bring statehood here, I will ask the Lieutenant Governor Sahab to dissolve the Assembly. Don’t try to bully us”.

He asserted that the demand for statehood was not about the interests of politicians or the Assembly, but for the people of the region. “The statehood is not for the MLAs or the government; it is for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. If statehood is brought, we will not stand in the way,” he said, reiterating that statehood is the right of the people of J&K.

He urged the Centre not to resort to misleading narratives and not try to “scare us with planted stories.” He said, “We have not only promised the people, but we are also actively working to fulfil it.”

A local newspaper - Greater Kashmir- had in a recent report said that the Centre’s offer for restoration of statehood to J&K might come with a “fine print”. Elaborating, it said that the fine print was to hold fresh elections for the government to rule J&K state as the previous elections were held for the government under J&K Union Territory.

Quoting an unnamed official in the Home Ministry, ‘who is privy to the development about the Centre’s response to the popular demand for the return of statehood to J&K’, the report had said, “The Centre might pay heed to the demands of these political parties, though not immediately.”

The report added, “However, he said that the demand would be met on the condition that either statehood would be restored after the present government completes its term and the next elections would be held for electing the government under the J&K state”.

The Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) , while reacting to such reports, said that it was an attempt to further confuse the public and delay the reversal of the August 5, 2019 decisions.

PDP chief spokesman Mehboob Beg while speaking to local news agency KNO expressed deep skepticism over the Centre’s intentions and questioned the legality and precedent of such measures.

“To be honest, this is something which has happened for the first time in the country. There is no precedent, no convention, no procedure,” he said, referring to the unprecedented demotion of a full-fledged state to a union territory.

He criticized the Central government for what he termed as a lack of clear intent and accused it of playing for time. “First, there was a commitment from the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Elections were not a favour. Here, they also become a favour. First, delimitation, then elections,” he recalled, referencing the Centre’s repeated assurances that delimitation would be followed by elections and then statehood.

He contended that the recent discussion of re-elections was “aimed to create confusion and buy time so that they don’t do anything.” He accused the government of giving the impression of serious consideration while using technicalities to delay substantive action. “Sorting it out, how long will it take? Nobody knows. This all is unfortunate, you don’t play tricks with your own citizens,” he said.

Meanwhile, J&K Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday said that the Omar Abdullah-led government has been putting hectic efforts to ensure restoration of statehood and special status to the erstwhile state.

While addressing a press conference here, Choudhary said, “In eight months of our tenure, the Chief Minister after visiting Delhi multiple times has made the approval of these (19 key road and tunnel projects worth ₹ 10.637 crore) possible for J&K. He is not among the Chief Ministers who visited Delhi for downgrading erstwhile J&K state to Union Territory.”

Former chief minister and ruling National Conference president Farooq Abdullah had said earlier this week that his party would approach the Supreme Court if the Centre fails to restore statehood to J&K. On Tuesday when asked about his remark that “statehood is not being given to J&K because we are Muslims,” Senior Abdullah said, “What other reason can there be? Are we enemies of India? We joined India when Pakistan was in front of us.”

J&K Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari asserted that restoration of statehood to J&K is not a favour to people but their right which was snatched from them in August 2019.