Sajad Lone Slams Omar Abdullah Over J-K Statehood Remarks

People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone on Saturday hit out at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for linking statehood to law and order in Jammu and Kashmir, and asserted that statehood was the right of the people of the Union territory. “Who is he (Omar Abdullah) to say ‘take it back’? Statehood is our right, whether there is a National Conference or not. What does it mean to take it back? Why take it back? It is our right. We are not seeking statehood for law and order… We even have (Article) 370. What is this take it back? It was a childish statement,” Lone told reporters here.

The People’s Conference MLA from Handwara was responding to a question on Chief Minister Abdullah’s statement on Friday that incidents like the Pahalgam attack or the Delhi blast will not take place (in J-K) when statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir, as the responsibility for security will rest with the elected government.

“If such attacks take place again, you can take back the statehood through Parliament,” Abdullah said at the end of a two-day working committee meeting of the National Conference (NC).