17/10/2024
Meanwhile, former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba M***i who also attended the oath taking ceremony. Terming it an “auspicious day”, M***i said that the people of J&K have an elected government after several years and expressed the hope that the new government would “heal these wounds” of the people of J&K.
As the UT government can have only 9 ministers, including the CM, Omar was expected to allot one Cabinet berth for the grand old party.
Congress Legislative Party leader GA Mir said it a little better, , “The Centre had promised statehood as part of a three-step process – delimitation, then elections and statehood. Now elections are also over and there is no reason left for the Centre not to restore statehood to J&K. We will join the government whenever that is done.”
Dressed in a black sherwani and sporting his signature sozni cap, Omar took oath at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), named after the title designated to his grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
After the constitutional changes of August 5, 2019, SKICC was designated a subsidiary jail where members of J&K’s political leadership were held for months.
Article written by Ankul Dev