Srinagar: Reacting sharply to the recent statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the restoration of statehood, Senior Vice President of J&K Peoples Conference and former Cabinet Minister Abdul Gani Vakil said that such provocative remarks can only delay the restoration of statehood and are bound to damage the interests of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Vakil said that threatening the Central Government with agitation is a politically immature statement, especially coming from the Chief Minister of a Union Territory. “If the CM is genuinely serious about the restoration of statehood, he should convene an all-party meeting of J&K leaders and collectively approach the Prime Minister to discuss the issue. That alone can yield positive results,” Vakil remarked.
He added, “The second option before Omar Abdullah is introspection. If he has failed on all fronts political as well as economic and has not fulfilled the promises made during the last Assembly elections, then conscience demands that he should step down from the chair of Chief Minister.”
Vakil reiterated that Peoples Conference believes in the resolution of all issues through dialogue and not through instigating people to hit the streets. “The people of J&K have already suffered enormously over the last four decades due to repeated agitations. More than one lakh of our youth have lost their lives. It is shocking that even today the CM is talking of agitation as a tool,” Vakil said.
