SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday took to social media to defend his government’s focus on statehood restoration. Omar said that Article 370, which provided special autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, requires action by the legislature.
“Article 370 is the purview of the legislature while statehood is the purview of the government. Hence, the statehood resolution has come first.”https://t.co/UM9ZHR33KY
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 19, 2024
Omar said since statehood can be granted or altered by a decision of the government, it was addressed first, while Article 370 requires legislative involvement. “Article 370 is the purview of the legislature, while statehood is the purview of the government. Hence, the statehood resolution has come first,” he wrote on X.
The Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government, at its first cabinet meeting on Thursday, unanimously adopted a resolution seeking the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Opposition parties, including the PDP, were critical of the move. “Omar Abdullah’s first resolution on statehood is nothing less than a ratification of the August 5, 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,” PDP Youth President and Pulwama MLA Waheed Para posted on X.
