SRINAGAR: As the Monsoon Session of Parliament prepares to take up the issue of the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack and its aftermath, a diverse coalition of civil society members, retired civil servants, academics, journalists, lawyers, and former military officers has sent a strongly worded petition to Members of Parliament, urging them to demand the immediate and full restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The letter, dated July 16 and signed by over a hundred prominent individuals from across India, highlights the six-year delay in reversing what it terms the “unconstitutional removal of statehood” in 2019, when the erstwhile state was bifurcated and downgraded into two Union Territories following the abrogation of Article 370.
Calling for urgent legislative and political attention, the petition argues that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir’s lost statehood must not be sidelined during discussions on terrorism and national security in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. The signatories insist that restoring statehood is central not just to democratic governance in the region but also to safeguarding India’s federal structure.
“We urge that a very critical question—the loss of Statehood and the diminution of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories—is not lost sight of during the discussions,” the letter states, appealing to MPs across party lines to raise the issue forcefully.
The signatories include former ministers like Mani Shankar Aiyar, retired intelligence and military officials such as AS Dulat and Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, academics like Ramachandra Guha and Jayati Ghosh, former bureaucrats including Wajahat Habibullah, Radha Kumar, and Deb Mukharji, as well as social activists like Aruna Roy and Shabnam Hashmi. Also among the petitioners are senior journalists and editors such as Anuradha Bhasin, Anando Bhakto, and Vaishna Roy.
The letter notes that the Union Government has already expressed commitment to restoring statehood in principle but has delayed implementation. “This delay undermines democratic trust and exacerbates the alienation already felt by large sections of the population in Jammu and Kashmir,” it states.
The signatories also propose a constitutional amendment to prevent future dilution of state status without due legislative safeguards. “To prevent such an eventuality, we propose that a clause be inserted into Articles 1 and/or 3 of the Indian Constitution, laying down that no existing state can be turned into a Union Territory,” the letter suggests.
The appeal concludes with a call for solidarity from Members of Parliament, stressing that statehood is essential not only for justice in Jammu and Kashmir but for the integrity of the Indian federal republic. The petition warns that if left unaddressed, the precedent set in 2019 could erode the basic structure of Indian democracy.
