Jammu and Kashmir chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said there would be no change in his party’s plan to hold protest over the delay in restoration of statehood, in the wake of the death of his uncle, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal.
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“On July 11, Dr Kamal was very serious. Even on that day my father, Farooq Abdullah, told me that the program scheduled for Jammu won’t change,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.
He said that they will leave for Delhi on July 19 even as central government has not yet given permission to hold the protest.
“We are still waiting for the permission. We will leave for Delhi and if permission isn’t granted in Delhi, the leadership will take the decision about the program.”
The National Conference (NC), during its meeting held earlier this month, had announced that they hold a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand statehood restoration for the Union Territory. The protest have been scheduled for July 20–first day of Parliament session.
The CM said there has been no change in the protest program despite the death of his uncle, Dr Mustafa Kamal.
A senior NC legislator said: “We will be leaving for Delhi on July 19. All the legislators and senior leaders will be taking part in this protest.”
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday had sent invitations to 54 leaders, including national leaders, heads of different political parties of J&K, and some prominent citizens, inviting them to join a peaceful, democratic protest at Jantar Mantar to demand restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Among those invited are Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi, MK Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, D Raja, Kapil Sibal, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Asaduddin Owaisi, Sukhbir Singh Badal, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and heads of all regional political parties of J&K, BJP state president Sat Sharma, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
