Hope UT status is temporary, Centre should restore statehood soon: Omar Abdullah

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday expressed hope that Jammu and Kashmir's Union Territory status is a temporary phase and that the central government fulfils its promise of restoring its statehood.

"It has been a little over two months since we came to power. It took us time to understand how the UT government works. We have been associated with the government earlier, but there is a vast difference between that form and the present form," Abdullah said at a media interaction at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here.

#WATCH | Srinagar | J&K CM Omar Abdullah says, "We have been in power for more than 2 months now. It took us some time to understand the functioning of a government in a UT... It was easier than anticipated... We stand by the promises we made before the elections because of which… pic.twitter.com/E1IgncjafO

— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2025

The chief minister said the start of the new government has been "decent" and that they "did not find much difficulty" in it.

"We are bound by our election promises. We have started the process of implementing some of the promises and for other promises, we need change in the system. I hope J-K being a UT is a temporary phase," Abdullah said.

"We the people are now expecting that the promises made with us will be fulfilled. The biggest promise is the restoration of the statehood. The Supreme Court in its judgement had also stated that the statehood should be restored as soon as possible. One year has passed since and we think one year should be enough," he added.

Abdullah said the sentiments of the people should be respected their aspirations should be fulfilled.

Addressing reporters, the chief minister termed it an interaction, and not a press conference.

"We are not making any big announcements as was being speculated on social media. We only wanted to have an interaction. We will try to answer your questions," he said.

"I would like to have this kind of interaction without any agenda at least twice a year," he added.