Will continue efforts for restoration of special status to J&K, says Omar
Asserts that Article 370 continues to exist in the Constitution and has not been removed
Reiterating his stand, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the government would continue its efforts to restore special status to Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that Article 370 continues to exist in the Constitution and has not been removed.
Winding up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Lieutenant Governor’s address in the Assembly, Abdullah said Article 370 was not specifically mentioned in the address as the provision still exists in the Constitution despite being “hollowed out”.
“National Conference and the J&K government are committed to the promises made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. At the top of those promises is the restoration of special status,” Abdullah said.
Responding to Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, the Chief Minister said, “We did not mention Article 370 because it has not been removed from the Constitution. It is still there; it has only been hollowed out. After doing so, you snatched away our special status. We are only saying that we want the restoration of our special status.”
He said the House had already passed a resolution in its first session stating that special status, along with constitutional guarantees as provided under Article 370 — which continues to remain on the statute books — should be restored.
“The day you remove Article 370 from the Constitution, the very next day we will bring a resolution for its restoration. That is the reason we did not discuss it here,” Abdullah added.
On August 5, 2019, the Union government abrogated Article 370, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Abdullah said the party’s biggest promise was the restoration of statehood to J&K and questioned why the people of the Union Territory were being made to wait. “First, people were asked to vote in the Lok Sabha elections with the assurance that statehood would follow. Later, they were urged to participate in the Assembly elections, to which they responded,” he said, questioning the delay.
The Chief Minister also raised serious concerns over recent terror incidents in different parts of the Union Territory. Referring to the Udhampur encounter in which two terrorists were killed on Wednesday, Abdullah said, “It is good that terrorists were neutralised, but how did they reach there? The LoP claims there is no local recruitment, then who was behind the Delhi car blast? What is being said does not match the ground reality.”
He also questioned BJP members for raising the issue of discrimination against the Jammu region, asking why the issue was not flagged when the Darbar Move was stopped in 2021.
“After we restored the Darbar Move, markets in Jammu are buzzing. If there was any injustice to Jammu, it was the stopping of the Darbar Move, which this government has corrected,” he said.
On the cancellation of the Letter of Permission to the Vaishno Devi medical college, Abdullah suggested granting minority status to the institution and restarting classes. “This was real discrimination — a medical college was shut down. I am amazed that in other parts of the country people struggle to get a medical college, while here one was closed because more Muslim candidates were selected on merit. There was an investment of about Rs 300 crore in the project,” he said, urging that the college be revived after securing minority status.
