Srinagar, Jan 2: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed hope that the Union Territory (UT) status of the region is a temporary phase and that the central government will fulfill its promise of restoring its statehood. Speaking at a media interaction at Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on Thursday, Abdullah emphasized that the restoration of statehood remains the “biggest promise” made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“It has been a little over two months since we came to power. It took us time to understand how the UT government works. We have been associated with the government earlier, but there is a vast difference between that form and the present form,” he said.
The Chief Minister described the start of the new government as “decent” and noted that there had not been significant difficulties. “We are bound by our election promises. We have started the process of implementing some of the promises, and for others, we need changes in the system,” he added.
Abdullah reiterated that the restoration of statehood should be expedited, pointing out that the Supreme Court had mentioned it in its ruling and that one year since the abrogation of Article 370 should be enough for the process to begin. “We the people are now expecting that the promises made with us will be fulfilled,” he said.
In response to reporters’ questions, Abdullah clarified that the meeting was intended as an interaction and not a press conference. “We are not making any big announcements as speculated on social media. We only wanted to have an interaction and answer your questions,” he said, further expressing a desire to hold such interactions at least twice a year without an agenda.
