Will approach SC if Centre fails to restore statehood to J&K: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, Aug 19 (PTI) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Monday said his party would approach the Supreme Court if the Centre fails to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

“The reality is that we have a fight on our hands to get our powers back and we have no doubt that we will succeed. At the very least, in the first instance we will get a statehood back for J-K,” Abdullah told reporters here.

“Within the state all the powers that are required to fulfil these promises, are with the government of J-K. And we will fulfil the promises,” he added.

Abdullah was interacting with the media after releasing the party’s manifesto.

The National Conference (NC) leader said if the Centre is not willing to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir then his party would approach the apex court.

“We only have to go as far to remind the Supreme Court that the government of India has promised the SC that statehood will be restored to J-K. In the unlikely event that the GoI is not willing to do it on its own will, we will go to the SC and we will get justice from there,” said Abdullah.

“But statehood will be restored and these promises will be kept,” he added, referring to the poll promises made by the party in its manifesto.

Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood as well as implementation of the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile assembly in 2000 are among the NC’s 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.

When asked how the National Conference would go about seeking the restoration of Article 370 abrogated by the Centre in August 2019 when the apex court has upheld the Government of India’s decision, Abdullah said, “We will fight politically. Before this decision of the SC, it upheld Article 370 three times. So, can we not hope that the SC will tomorrow change its decision? If the BJP did not accept defeat even after three rulings, how can we accept defeat after just one verdict?”

“We have never said that we will be able to do it immediately, but we are not ready to quit this fight. We assure people that we will not sit silent on these issues. If the BJP took so many years, we will not talk about 10-20 years, but are hopeful that the situation in this country will change and we will be able to fulfil this promise,” he added.

Responding to a question about talks of alliance with the Congress, Abdullah said the National Conference is starting talks with the grand old party to chalk out alliance and seat sharing.

“I cannot tell you how far we will succeed in that because talks have not yet started. Let the talks start, then we will see,” he added.

Asked if the party would ally with the BJP as in the parliamentary polls the National Conference got leads in 35 seats in Kashmir and the BJP secured leads in 29 seats in Jammu, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said his party is not thinking of allying with the saffron party.

“Why are you (media) going into speculations? Wait for October 4. We do not feel the BJP is in a position which you think it is in. We will not need to go with the BJP nor are we thinking about going that way,” he said.

To a question about the lessons learnt by the party from the results of the parliamentary polls, Abdullah said the party has learnt that the party’s situation is not as bad as some people have been making of it over the last few years.

“We also learnt that nothing can be taken as for granted and that independent candidates can be dangerous. But the most important thing we felt was that the voter base of the NC was intact when the other parties disintegrated,” he said.

Responding to a question about the Jamaat-e-Islami’s willingness to contest the assembly polls, Abdullah said he regrets that the Centre did not revoke the ban of the organisation.

“We regret that JeI (Jamaat-e-Islami) cannot participate in polls as the ban was not revoked when they wanted to leave their politics of last 30 years and contest in the polls. We have always been in favour of revoking ban on them. But unfortunately the administration was not able to revoke the ban,” he said.