Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (PTI photo)
The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, has passed a resolution urging the restoration of statehood to the Union Territory. The Chief Minister will present the resolution to Prime Minister Modi.
The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has passed a resolution for the restoration of statehood in the Union Territory. News agency IANS quoted official sources as saying that the resolution was passed during the first cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The meeting was presided over by the Chief Minister and was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and ministers Sakeena Masood Itoo, Javed Ahmad Rana, Javaid Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma.
“The draft of the resolution has been prepared and the Chief Minister will travel to New Delhi in a couple of days to hand over the draft of the resolution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir,” IANS quoted sources as saying.
Meanwhile, Waheed Para of Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in an X post termed the step a “ratification” of the abrogation of Article 370.
“Omar Abdullah’s first resolution on statehood is nothing less than ratification of the August 5th, 2019 decision. No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370,” Para’s post read.
Omar Abdullah’s first resolution on statehood is nothing less than ratification of the August 5th, 2019 decision. No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370.— Waheed Para (@parawahid) October 18, 2024
On Thursday, National Congress president Farooq Abdullah expressed confidence that the Centre would soon restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have talked about statehood before and even today, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an application seeking restoration of Statehood within two months. I am sure the Government of India will soon restore it,” Abdullah said while talking to reporters.
When asked whether the National Conference would raise the issue of Article 370 or pass a resolution against it in the Assembly, Abdullah said that they would need to return to court to present their arguments.
The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated by the Centre.
