SRINAGAR — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said statehood was the foundation for restoring the special status of the Union Territory.
Addressing a press conference here, Abdullah said the National Conference (NC) will keep reminding the Centre of its promise to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and expressed hope that the commitment would be fulfilled.
He also asserted that his protest in Delhi was “just the beginning” and not the end of the party’s campaign.
The chief minister was in the national capital on Monday to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. However, police stopped him and other party leaders from moving towards the protest venue due to the heavy security deployment for the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) march.
“Some people tell us to talk about (restoration of) Article 370 and J-K’s special status first… I want to ask them what does Article 370 or 371 mean without statehood?” Abdullah said.
He said statehood was imperative for the restoration of special status.
“Whatever special status J&K would have, be it under Article 370 or anything else, the point is how to share the powers between the Centre and J-K. There is no sharing of powers between the Centre and a UT because a UT does not have any powers. All powers of a UT lie either with the Centre or the Lok Bhavan. All Cabinet decisions go to Lok Bhavan first,” he said.
“So, what power sharing are you talking about under a special status if you do not have a state list? The issue is only that. How many state list powers, Central list or concurrent list powers are there under any special status, that is the argument?” he said.
Abdullah described statehood as the foundation for restoring special status.
“Where is the state list without the statehood? It is all Union list. That is why we say that to reach there, we have to lay a foundation, then we can build a building on that,” he said.
Abdullah said the party has not forgotten the issue of special status.
“We passed the resolution (on special status) on the first day of the assembly session after government formation. It (resolution) is still alive. This resolution can be discussed only after we have statehood,” he said.
He also sought to reassure the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the party remained committed to promises it had made.
“I assure my people we stand by our promises and will remain steadfast. A new strategy and programme will soon be decided by the party leadership,” the chief minister said. — (PTI)