Will launch door-to-door signature campaign for J-K statehood: CM Omar Abdullah

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday announced he would launch a massive signature campaign to press the demand for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and present those signatures to the Supreme Court.

Referring to the observations made by the Supreme Court about the Pahalgam attack during the hearing of a plea for J&K’s statehood, Abdullah said it is unfortunate that people of the region are being punished for a crime in which they played no role.

In his Independence Day speech at Bakshi Stadium here, the CM said the Supreme Court has given the government eight weeks to respond.

“From today, we will use these eight weeks to go door to door in all 90 assembly segments for a signature campaign on the restoration of statehood. If people are not ready to sign the document, I will accept defeat,” he said.

“We will have to take these voices from our offices and to the doors where these decisions are taken,” he said, adding that the signature campaign documents will be submitted to the apex court.

Abdullah said the reference to the Pahalgam terror attack during the hearing in the Supreme Court was unfortunate.

“There were unfortunate comments in the Supreme Court that the Pahalgam attack should be considered when statehood is decided. Will the killers of Pahalgam and their masters in the neighbouring country decide whether we will be a state? Every time we will be close to statehood, they will do something to sabotage it. Is this fair? Why are we being punished for the crime we have no role in,” he asked.

“From Kathua to Kupwara, people came out on their own to protest against the Pahalgam attack. Unfortunately, today we are being punished for the Pahalgam attack,” he said.

Terrorists killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists, in the Baisaran meadow in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.