Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 9: Taranjit Singh Tony, General Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) and Member District Development Council (DDC) Suchetgarh today demanded that the Govt must restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir before holding the Assembly elections in this Union Territory.
While issuing a statement here today, Tony said, “While the elections should be conducted for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly very soon to restore democracy in this UT, more than that it is necessary that the statehood should be restored before holding of the aforesaid elections.”
“Our land and job rights, which were taken away after Article 370 abrogation, should be secured in the manner these existed prior to abrogation i.e. before August 5, 2019. This needs to be done on utmost priority by bringing a new law when the statehood gets restored,” he said.
Slamming the BJP Govt for not even heeding seriously to the Supreme Court directions in this regard he said that restoration of statehood is a prerequisite to holding assembly elections especially after the observations of the Supreme Court while hearing the case pertaining to abrogation of Article 370, in which it asked the Govt to hold elections to keep up the spirit of democracy.
“Holding elections without granting statehood will defeat the basic purpose of restoring the institutions of democracy in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.