J&K Cabinet urges Central govt to restore statehood, passes resolution

According to sources, draft of the resolution has been prepared and the Chief Minister will travel to New Delhi to hand over the draft to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Srinagar: The Jammu & Kashmir Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has passed the resolution for restoration of statehood.

Official sources said that during its first meeting on Thursday, the J&K Cabinet passed a resolution urging the Central government to restore statehood. “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 J&K,” sources said.

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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. Congress JKPCC president Tariq Hameed Karra had told reporters that the party would not join the J&K Cabinet unless statehood was restored.

NC president, Farooq Abdullah has expressed confidence that the Centre would soon restore Statehood to J&K. “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.

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. During his visit to the city centre Lal Chowk, Abdullah said that there would be no VIP culture on the roads, asserting that people would be relieved from the annoying sound of sirens.

“There will be no more sirens that irritate the ears of the public. Everyone is equal here, whether locals or politicians; there are no VIPs,” he said. The erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh on August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated by the Indian government.