Srinagar, July 18 — National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday welcomed the Congress party’s move to press for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, calling it a rightful demand of the people.
“I congratulate Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi for raising the issue with the Prime Minister,” Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar. “A meeting of all political leaders is scheduled for the evening of July 19, where this matter will be discussed again.”
His remarks came after Congress leaders wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that the issue of statehood be taken up during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Asked whether he believes the Centre will act on the demand, Abdullah said, “Why not? It is our right. If they don’t, we will see.”
The Centre had on August 5, 2019, revoked Article 370, stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special constitutional status, and bifurcated the former state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
On a separate issue, Abdullah responded cautiously to the United States’ recent decision to designate The Resistance Front (TRF) — a Pakistan-based proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba — as a foreign terrorist organization following its alleged role in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
“That incident is still under investigation. Until it is complete, it would be inappropriate to comment,” he said.
The TRF, which claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, was designated by the US as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity earlier this week.
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