Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has questioned the Centre’s repeated assertion that statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at the “right time”, asking what parameters determine when that time will arrive.
Speaking in the backdrop of the controversy over the statehood resolution moved by him in the J&K Legislative Assembly, Abdullah said amendments brought to the resolution, including by legislators from his own party, had given the BJP an opportunity to protest inside the House.
The BJP has maintained that statehood would be restored at an appropriate or “right” time. Abdullah questioned what that phrase meant.
“What are the parameters they are calling the right time? Is it militancy? Is it security?” Abdullah asked.
He further argued that if the Centre’s position was that statehood could only be restored after militancy ends completely, the decision would effectively depend on Pakistan, alleging that Pakistan was responsible for militancy in Kashmir.
Abdullah also alleged that the Chief Secretary had written to the Speaker regarding the resolution brought by the Chief Minister.
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According to Abdullah, the communication conveyed the government’s position that the resolution should not be discussed on the ground that the matter was sub judice.
The Chief Minister also questioned the prolonged absence of an Advocate General for Jammu and Kashmir.
“We had given a name for the post of Advocate General of J&K. It’s been two years and we still have no one,” Abdullah said.
He asked the BJP to clarify which state or Union Territory in the country was functioning without an Advocate General.
Abdullah had also raised the issue of the vacant Advocate General’s post in recent discussions with the Centre, saying Jammu and Kashmir had been without an Advocate General for nearly two years.
The latest exchange comes amid heightened tensions in the J&K Assembly, where BJP legislators have repeatedly protested over the statehood resolution and its references to earlier Assembly resolutions.

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