Srinagar, Aug 15 (KNO): Asserting that people of Jammu and Kashmir are being punished for the Pahalgam attack, which they condemned vehemently, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said that J&K’s statehood should not be decided by perpetrators behind the carnage.
Addressing the 79th Independence Day function after hoisting the tricolour at Bakshi Stadium here the Chief Minister, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said, “We are being punished for the Pahalgam attack — an attack the people of J&K themselves condemned from Kathua to Kupwara. Statehood should not be decided by those behind Pahalgam. Is this justice?”
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he was disappointed with observations made by the Supreme Court bench and Pahalgam incident being used as an “excuse to delay statehood to J&K. “The restoration of Statehood should be the first step to build a strong J&K. There should not be a situation where bureaucracy is not accountable to elected government,” he added.
He reminded that during previous elected governments, terrorism-related incidents consistently declined and that elected leadership has proven its capability to maintain peace. “Trust us once — we did not fail before, and God willing, we will not fail in the future,” he said.
Declaring a people’s movement in response to the Supreme Court’s eight-week timeframe for hearing the statehood case again, Omar Abdullah announced: “We will not sit idle. Over the next eight weeks, we will reach all 90 Assembly constituencies, every village, every home, gathering signatures and thumb impressions from people on whether they want J&K to be a State again. If the people say they are satisfied with the current situation, I will accept defeat. But my heart tells me we will gather hundreds of thousands of signatures to present before the Central Government and the Supreme Court.”
While reflecting on the seismic political changes that J&K has witnessed during the past years, the Chief Minister said, “It has been 11 years since I have addressed the people of Jammu & Kashmir from this stage. Back then, we had our own identity, our own special status, our own flag, and our own constitution. Today, none of that remains. Even the status of being a State is not ours anymore.”
The Chief Minister questioned the prolonged wait for democracy’s return to J&K and the unfulfilled hopes of meaningful announcements from New Delhi.
“Some of our friends and relatives kept telling me this year there would be an announcement from Delhi. We waited. It did not happen. The truth is, the ray of light I often spoke about has dimmed slightly — but I am still not ready to give up or accept that nothing will change,” he asserted.
Omar Abdullah asked whether the stated objective of integrating J&K fully and equally with the rest of the country had truly been achieved.
“Has equality come? Are we really equal to the rest of the country? Have we really improved? If yes, I will remain silent. But if not, tell me — what was our fault that we find ourselves here today?”
Sharing his personal experience of leading both a State and now a Union Territory, he was candid in his critique:
“I do not want anyone to be the Chief Minister of a Union Territory. This system of governance looks good on paper but fails in reality. It is a governance structure designed for failure.”
The Chief Minister said that no one should aspire to become CM of a Union Territory. “People will ask why did you take part in the electoral process of a UT but I didn’t know it will be made so difficult. The situation has come to such a pass that Cabinet decisions are stopped and not issued. What will the elected government do if its hands are tied”, CM said
The Chief Minister likened the functioning of the current administration to “tying a horse’s front legs and then asking it to run,” citing instances where Cabinet decisions were stalled, altered, or left unapproved.
Despite these hurdles, he outlined achievements over the past 10 months. “ J&K Assembly passed a resolution to restore special status and statehood. The cabinet gave its approval for statehood restoration. Budgetary decisions were taken to benefit education, health, social welfare, transport, tourism and agriculture. The government ensured quick restoration of electricity during winter outages. It also ensured expansion of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP),” he said, adding, “Mission Yuva was launched to create livelihoods for 4–4.5 lakh youth. MLAs’ Constituency Development Fund was increased to empower elected representatives.”
He stressed the urgent need to restore the “triple chain of accountability” envisioned by the Supreme Court, ensuring bureaucracy is answerable to the elected government and elected government to the Assembly.
The Chief Minister made a fervent appeal to reclaim the inclusive and equal India envisioned by the freedom fighters:
“We have to get the India for which Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, and countless others sacrificed their lives. An India where equality, brotherhood, and the right to participate in the democratic struggle are guaranteed for all.”
The Chief Minister also inspected the parade and took salute at an impressive march past of the contingents comprising of J&K Police, Security forces, schools’ students, besides Brass & Pipe bands of J&K Police and school students—(KNO)