Pahalgam terror attack hasn’t affected J&K statehood talks, clears CM Omar Abdullah

Gulmarg: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the April 22 Pahalgam attack has not stalled the conversation around restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and that he had raised the issue at the recent meeting of NITI Aayog governing council.

“No, not at all. If you were to take out the formal speech that circulated in the NITI Aayog meeting, you will find a categorical mention for return of statehood in that ... which was given to the Prime Minister and all the members of the governing council of the NITI Aayog,” Abdullah told reporters at tourist resort of north Kashmir, 52 km from Srinagar.

Abdullah was responding to a question whether the Pahalgam terror attack had affected the talk about restoration of statehood to J&K.

“So, the conversation around statehood has not stalled. The only thing I was unwilling to do was to use the special session of the (Jammu and Kashmir) assembly to talk about statehood. But that does not mean the conversation has stopped. The conversation is ongoing,” he said.

On the revival of tourism, the CM, who chaired a meeting here, said it is the Kashmiris who should be visiting tourist places in the valley before expecting people from other parts of the country to come visiting again. “There should be publicity and lively activity at these places. I have asked the Education minister to start picnics for schools and colleges so that we start moving back towards normalcy,” he said.

Besides top civil administration officials, the meeting was attended by the inspector general of police, Kashmir, deputy inspector general, North Kashmir, and senior superintendent of police, Baramulla.

On Tuesday, Abdullah chaired a meeting of his council of ministers in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam.