‘J&K will see elections as UT, then get statehood’

New Delhi, Dec 11: Jammu and Kashmir would be given complete statehood after the elections as a union territory, News18.com quoted the top government sources as saying.

The portal said that according to top government sources, “The government has no issue in restoring the statehood for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It was withdrawn at the time of abrogation of Article 370 over legal and technical issues.”

Explaining further, they said, “Their laws were different from the rest of the country. Earlier, there was no provision for the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or property rights for women. The labour laws, too, were not at par with the rest of India.”

“There were no voting rights for people who came here from Pakistan after 1947. There was no provision for them to become Members of Panchayat. To bring J&K to par with the rest of the country, the power was given to the Lieutenant Governor and the Central government. After the reforms, the statehood can be given,” they said.