SURANKOTE, MAY 15: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice president, Omar Abdullah, on Sunday admitted that Article 370 which guaranteed special status to the erstwhile state was not a permanent provision, adding ““but it could not be removed as it formed the basis of J&K’s accession with the country’’.
“Article 370 was not given a permanent status on the basis of the resolution which was taken up in the United Nations Security Council at that time,’’ he said while replying to a question by media persons in border Poonch district’s Surankote town. “But thereafter, when you say tht Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and it cannot secede from it, then you cannot remove Article 370 on the basis of which it has become an integral part of the country,’’ he added.
Cutting short his reply by refusing to enter into a debate over the issue, the National Conference leader said that the matter is pending in the Supreme Court which has agreed to hear the matter after summer vacations.
