CM Omar urges party leaders to back J&K statehood bill in Parliament

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday wrote to the presidents of over 40 political parties seeking their support for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying it "must not be viewed as a concession, but as an essential course correction".

According to officials, Abdullah, in his two-page letter, called for bringing a legislation for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir during the current Parliament session.

The chief minister's appeal comes nine months after his government's unanimous resolution calling for immediate statehood restoration, which, he says, was personally handed to the Prime Minister with an assurance of progress.

It also comes on the sixth anniversary of the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

"Restoration must not be viewed as a concession, but as an essential course correction -- one that prevents us from sliding down a dangerous and slippery slope where the statehood of our constituent states is no longer regarded as a foundational and sacred constitutional right but reduced instead to a discretionary favour bestowed at the will of the central government," the letter said.