NEW DELHI: Full statehood will be reinstated to Jammu and Kashmir at an “appropriate time” once the normalcy is restored in the Valley, the Centre informed Parliament on Wednesday.
It refused to provide any timeline for the process.
However, the Centre said the number of terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have fallen in 2020 by 59 per cent as compared to 2019. In the year 2021, up to June, there has been a 32% fall in terrorist activities compared to the corresponding period last year.
The statement on statehood comes a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the leaders of Jammu and Kashmir that the Centre would restore statehood to J&K.
“Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be granted at an appropriate time after normalcy is restored,” Minister of State Nityanand Rai said. He was responding to Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.
On the issue of resettling Kashmir Pundits, he said the govt is more confident as 3,841 youths have moved back to Kashmir and taken up government jobs.