Congress Leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir Accuses Centre of Delaying Statehood, Says J&K “Being Punished”

By A Staff Reporter

Anantnag, J&K: Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir on Monday strongly criticised the Centre for what he described as an “unjustified and deliberate” delay in restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. Addressing reporters, Mir recalled the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister after the former state was bifurcated and downgraded to a Union Territory, saying that all recognised political parties had unanimously agreed on a clear sequence for the restoration of democratic processes.

He said the collective demand at the meeting was to first hold Assembly elections, then undertake delimitation, and finally restore statehood. “All the registered parties told him to hold elections, then do delimitation, and then restore the state's status unanimously,” Mir stated. However, he alleged that the Centre disregarded this consensus. “But he said that we will first conduct delimitation, then hold elections, and immediately after the elections restore the state's status,” he added.

Mir accused the government of failing to honour even its own stated sequence and suggested that political considerations were driving the delay. “The people of J&K are being punished for not forming a BJP government,” he said, arguing that the prolonged lack of statehood had adversely affected governance, accountability, and public trust.