Wrote to parties to push for bill on restoration of JK’s statehood in Parliament: Omar Abdullah
Srinagar, Aug 6 (PTI) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said he has written to several parties with a sizeable presence in Parliament, seeking their support for the introduction of a bill for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood in the ongoing Monsoon session.
The Centre abrogated Article 370, which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019, and divided it into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
“I have written a letter to all those parties who have a good number of MPs in Parliament and requested them to help on the promise made to Jammu and Kashmir on statehood and raise the issue in Parliament so that a bill is brought in this session itself and Jammu and Kashmir gets its statehood back,” Abdullah told reporters here.
The CM’s outreach comes amidst a growing demand for the return of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. His push is a renewed effort to hold the Centre accountable for its commitment to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
On July 29, Abdullah wrote a letter to the presidents of 42 political parties, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, urging them to press the Centre to bring a legislation in the Monsoon session to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it must not be viewed as a concession, but as an essential course correction.
He wrote that downgrading a state to a union territory sets a “profound and unsettling” precedent and is a “constitutional red line” that “must never be crossed”.
