"Appropriate Time Has Come": Omar Abdullah On Statehood For J&K

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said he was hopeful that statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir very soon and the "appropriate time has come".

He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a bridge in Pulwama district.

"We think the appropriate time has come, six months have passed since the Assembly elections. (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah came here, I had a separate meeting with him, a good one... I am still hopeful that J&K will soon get its statehood back," Mr Abdullah said.

On the opposition's charge that the ruling party scuttled the discussion on the Waqf Amendment Act, he said the adjournment motion could not have been admitted as the bill was passed by Parliament.

"The Speaker made everything clear on the last day. Perhaps, the mistake by the members was that they brought an adjournment motion. An adjournment motion is only brought to discuss the works of the Jammu and Kashmir government because the government has to respond.

"Tell me, had that adjournment motion been accepted, how would we have responded as the Waqf Bill was not brought by us? It was passed by the Centre in the Parliament," he said.

Mr Abdullah said a resolution under different rules in the Assembly might have been admitted.

"However, that has passed now. Many parties, including the National Conference, have approached the Supreme Court and put forth their views before the apex court. Now, we will see what the SC says," he added.

After the inauguration, Mr Abdullah said it was unfortunate that the bridge connecting Chrar-e-Sharief to south Kashmir took 11 years to rebuild after being washed away in the 2014 floods.

"It is unfortunate that this took a long time to rebuild. This bridge was washed away in the 2014 floods and it has taken 11 years to rebuild it. I think this bridge was destined to be thrown open by us. This bridge plays an important role in connecting south Kashmir with Chrar-e-Sharief," he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)