Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday expressed optimism about the restoration of statehood, saying, “I believe that time has come now.”
Asked if he had raised the issue during his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi earlier this week, Abdullah said the process of statehood restoration was underway and urgently needed to be taken to its logical conclusion.
When the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision of abrogating Article 370, it made a general mention about statehood being restored “as soon as possible”, he said.
The Centre abrogated Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and reorganised the erstwhile state into the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in 2019.
“It was discussed as soon as possible and that was over a year ago. We feel that time has arrived now,” Abdullah said in an exclusive interview.
The chief minister also said he had a “very good conversation” with the home minister. “It’s part of an ongoing conversation and I am very hopeful that statehood will be restored soon.”
Asked if the distance between Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir had reduced since he took office last year, the chief minister said sometimes some incidents occurred that widened the gap, pointing to the recent killings of two individuals in north Kashmir’s Sopore and in Billawar in Jammu’s Kathua district.
“…both incidents were unfortunate and I feel that they could have been prevented. They shouldn’t have occurred in the first place and now there is a necessity that they be investigated transparently. If someone is held guilty, the law has to take its course,” Abdullah said.
In Billawar, a 26-year-old man accused of being involved in militancy allegedly committed suicide on February 4 following “police harassment”. The day after, a truck driver was killed in army firing when he allegedly refused to stop at a checkpost in Sopore in Baramulla district.
Following the two deaths, the chief minister had said that such incidents “risk alienating the very people who we need to carry with us on the road to complete normalcy”.
Abdullah said that although security and police were not the direct responsibility of the elected Union Territory government, it was still their combined responsibility to ensure such incidents did not happen.
“As far as the people are concerned, the government is there. They are not going to say who’s responsible in the government. It’s our collective duty and it should be our aim that such incidents don’t happen. That is why this was a major part of my conversation with the home minister,” he said.
Abdullah also brushed aside criticism of his government by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), saying it was only reacting to its recent electoral loss.
“I don’t expect it to applaud us,” he said, showing that he does not usually react to such remarks.
Looking back on his administration’s time in office, which has now exceeded 100 days, Abdullah said, “No one voted for us for 100 days. People voted for us for five years, so let us do our work.”
He admitted that it was challenging to govern Jammu and Kashmir, saying, “Ruling Jammu and Kashmir is never easy. It wasn’t easy between 2009 and 2015. It’s not easy now and I don’t believe any chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir can say that their tenure was easy.”
“Everyone faces some difficulty or the other. In this case, this is a new experience for us. We are a Union Territory. We are learning, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also learned to work in these conditions,” he added.
Asked if he was facing any heat from the central government, Abdullah — who is also the National Conference vice-president — replied humorously and spoke about the challenges posed by the weather rather than political pressure, expressing concern over the potential for severe water shortages in the coming summer.
“There’s too much heat; not from the Centre, not from the lieutenant governor, not from any officer but from the weather. This heat is actually worrying me. If it continues, we will have a shortage of water during the summer. It is going to be our biggest problem, bigger than any other problem,” Abdullah said.
He emphasised the urgency of preparing for these shortages and said he had called a meeting with the departments concerned to address the issue, praying for much-needed rain or snow in the coming days.
“I pray it rains or snows in the coming days. But at the moment, the day temperature feels like that of March or April. I am really fearful that this heat will have a direct impact on us,” he added.
