Ahead of the ruling National Conference’s (NC) upcoming protest in Delhi over Statehood and constitutional guarantees, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) held a meeting with members of civil society. 

“The meeting was extremely productive and Dr. (Farooq Abdullah) Sahib was able to get a lot of useful feedback and good suggestions. The meeting passed a unanimous resolution, calling on the Union government to fulfil its promise and restore full Statehood to J&K without further delay,” Mr. Omar Abdullah said.

Earlier in the day, NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah informed civil society members of the protest to be held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 20.  

NC leaders briefed members on the Supreme Court judgment of December 2023, where the apex court had asked the Centre to “restore Statehood [at the] earliest”. The NC leaders termed the delay in restoration of Statehood as “inordinate” and described the Centre’s “appropriate time phrase” as a “vague and timeless expression”.

“Statehood had to follow delimitation and assembly polls, held in 2024. It has not. We have decided to protest in Delhi,” a senior NC leader told the leaders.

Delegations representing the travel, tourism and business sectors also raised issues concerning tourism promotion, business facilitation, and the overall growth of the economy in J&K, a government spokesperson said

J&K has been a Union Territory in 2019, when the Centre ended seven decades of the region’s special status under provisions of Article 370. Since then, there have been constant demands from J&K’s regional parties to restore the Statehood and special status.