Kashmir Impulse Desk
Srinagar, Sep 27
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly opposition leader Sunil Sharma on Sunday accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of undermining the demand for restoration of statehood by linking a fresh Assembly resolution to a 2000 resolution seeking greater autonomy.
The comments followed Friday’s stormy Assembly proceedings, when Omar moved a resolution calling on the Government of India to restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The resolution said it was in addition to resolutions passed by the House in June 2000 and November 2024.
Sharma said the reference to the 2000 resolution, passed when Farooq Abdullah was chief minister, brought an autonomy issue into a debate that should be limited to statehood.
The 2000 resolution sought restoration of greater autonomy and a return to the pre-1953 constitutional arrangement.
BJP legislators opposed the reference during Friday’s proceedings, tearing copies of the document, raising slogans and walking out, according to the supplied report.
Sharma said the BJP had rejected the autonomy resolution and argued that statehood and the pre-1953 demand were separate issues.
“The BJP is the only party that can give statehood to J&K and is in favour of it,” Sharma said, accusing Omar of undermining the process by referring to the earlier resolution.
Omar has rejected that interpretation, saying the latest resolution was focused only on restoration of statehood and did not seek a vote on autonomy or special status.
He said the earlier resolutions were already part of the Assembly’s record and that the wording of the new resolution did not abandon them.
Omar has also argued that the Centre had outlined a sequence of delimitation, elections and restoration of statehood, with the first two stages completed.
The dispute over the wording of the resolution has become a major point of contention between the ruling National Conference-led government and the BJP in the ongoing Assembly session.
