SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the National Conference (NC) will travel to New Delhi on July 19 as planned ahead of its proposed July 20 protest at Jantar Mantar, irrespective of whether permission for the demonstration is granted.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah said the party was still awaiting permission from the authorities but had prepared an alternative course of action if approval was denied.
“We have not received permission yet. We know how to remain patient and we will wait, but we are also keeping an alternate plan ready,” he said.
The Chief Minister said he had directed party leaders to proceed with their travel plans to the national capital on July 19.
“If we do not get permission for Jantar Mantar, we will sit together there and decide our next course of action. But we will go to Delhi on July 19,” he said.
Abdullah said there would be no change in the party’s programme despite the recent death of senior National Conference leader and his uncle, Mustafa Kamal, asserting that the demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s “snatched rights” remained unchanged.
Recalling the events preceding Kamal’s death, Abdullah said doctors had expressed serious concern about his condition on july 11, but National Conference president Farooq Abdullah had instructed the party to continue with its scheduled programme in Jammu on July 12.
“If we did not cancel the July 12 programme under those circumstances, there is no question of cancelling the July 20 protest,” he said.
The National Conference has called the July 20 protest at Jantar Mantar to press the Centre for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
