Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said that people’s aspirations should be respected and statehood restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state was speaking to the media on the sidelines of attending a Republic Day function in Srinagar.
“It is an auspicious day…India is a republic. We hope that the Constitution will be protected and the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir respected … Statehood should be restored,” Abdullah told reporters at Bakshi Stadium where Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary unfurled the tricolor and took salute from the march past.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary thanked the people of Jammu and Kashmir especially CM Omar Abdullah for unfurling the tricolor at the main Republic Day event in the valley. The Republic Day celebrations under the elected government mark a shift from five years ago when the same tricolour was raised by the advisor to the lieutenant governor during the six years of presidential rule.
While Choudhary headed the main event in Kashmir, LG Manoj Sinha unfurled the tricolor and took salute from the march past at the main Republic Day parade in Jammu at the Maulana Azad Stadium in the winter capital. Tight security arrangements were made both in Jammu and Srinagar a security ring was formed around the main venue Bakshi Stadium with attendees being checked for their security passes issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Police's Security Wing before being cleared by its intelligence wing.
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