Restoration of J&K statehood imperative, says Chidambaram

A day after Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha held a security review meeting, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said people have elected a chief minister and government to look after their security but the CM has no authority.

Chidambaram also asserted that the immediate restoration of full statehood to J&K is imperative. In a post on X, the former home minister said the photograph of the L-G of Jammu and Kashmir presiding over a meeting to review the law and order situation in J&K is telling.

“The elected chief minister is not present. Whether he was invited or not, I do not know. Under the law applicable to J&K, police and public order are subjects reserved for the L-G,” Chidambaram said.

The people have elected a chief minister and government to look after their security, among other things, but the chief minister has no authority, he said. This is why J&K is described as half a state, Chidambaram added. The immediate restoration of full statehood to J&K is imperative, he said. Sinha on Wednesday directed for a security audit of infrastructure projects, round-the-clock nakas and night patrolling and area domination in the Valley.

Sinha passed these directions during a security review for the Kashmir division in a meeting at Raj Bhawan in Srinagar. The meeting came against the backdrop of the deadly terror attack on construction workers at a tunnel in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal district on Sunday. Seven persons — a local doctor and six non-local labourers — were killed in the attack claimed by the TRF, a shadow outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

DGP Nalin Prabhat, Principal Secretary Home Department Chandraker Bharti and others senior officials of J-K Police attended the meeting.