Centre is in no hurry to restore J&K’s statehood: Govt official

New Delhi: The Centre is in no hurry to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and would instead wait and see how things go in the Union Territory in the next three to six months, a senior government official said on Tuesday. “The Centre wants to have constructive relations with the Omar Abdullah government and build on the gains made in the past few years. It is committed to restore statehood to J&K but may do it only after closely monitoring the situation on ground for next three to six months,” the officer told this correspondent.

When asked if Ladakh will be reunified with J&K whenever its statehood is restored, the officer who spoke privately said, ‘No, Ladakh will not be a part of J&K again. It will remain a centrally ruled region for strategic and other vital reasons. Rules may be changed to lay out the composition of a local assembly with limited powers,” He added that the Centre may also consider some of the demands -not all- of the local pressure groups.

Though under Centre’s direct rule for the past more than five years, two separate autonomous hill development councils continue to work with village panchayats to take decisions on economic development, healthcare, education, land use, taxation, and local governance in Ladakh’s twin districts of Leh and Kargil currently. The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Leh and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil se councils were established on the pattern of Darjeeling Hill Development Council in September 1995 and July 2023, respectively. The administration of UT of Ladakh looks after law and order, communications and higher education in the districts.

J&K was stripped of its special status with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and split up into two UTs on August 5, 2019. The erstwhile state of J&K had been brought under the Centre’s rule earlier in June 2018 following the collapse of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government. The elections to the J&K Assembly were held recently after a gap of ten years in which the National Conference-Congress combine secured absolute majority.

NC vice president Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the UT of J&K on October 16. The formation of the first elected government in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 ended the 6-year-old Central rule in the UT. At the first cabinet meeting, the Abdullah government unanimously adopted a resolution seeking restoration of statehood to J&K. The resolution pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have more than once committed to restoration of statehood to J&K post the Assembly elections and said that that if the Centre wants to make the people happy then it should fulfil the commitment as an elected government is already in place in J&K. The meeting also decided to approach the Centre for restoration of statehood. However, Mr. Shah while addressing a press conference in Jammu on September 6 had said that he, as the Home Minister, has promised on the floor of the Parliament that J&K’s statehood will be restored at “an appropriate time” after the Assembly elections. As seeking the restoration of statehood to J&K was the main poll plank of the Congress and some other parties, Mr. Shah had asked, “Why to demand something that has already been accepted.” But it was for the first time that the Home Minister had made the fulfilment of the Centre’s commitment conditional by adding “at an appropriate time” to it.

(Source : Deccan Chronicle)