ibn sultan
As a fresh round of speculation swirled around Jammu and Kashmir’s political future, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he did not expect any dramatic announcement in the next 24 hours. “I’ve heard every possible permutation & combination about what to expect in J&K tomorrow so let me stick my neck out and say nothing will happen tomorrow-fortunately nothing bad will happen but unfortunately nothing positive will happen either,’ Abdullah posted on X.
“I’m still optimistic about something positive for J&K in this monsoon session of Parliament but not tomorrow. And no, I haven’t had any meetings or conversations with people in Delhi. This is just a gut feeling. Let’s see this time tomorrow,” he added.
Abdullah’s remarks come as political circles and social media have been abuzz with speculation about a possible move by the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir-nearly six years after Article 370 was scrapped and the state was split into two Union Territories.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi. Hours later, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also held a one-on-one meeting with the President.
In the lead-up to these meetings, Shah also held discussions with J&K BJP chief Sat Sharma, Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Kavinder Gupta, and All J&K Shia Association president Imran Raza Ansari.
The timing of these back-to-back engagements-just ahead of the August 5 anniversary of the Article 370 move-added to the anticipation of a legislative development.
India Today reported that Modi has also called a key meeting of NDA MPs on Tuesday, further fuelling conjecture.
Retired Army officer K.J.S. Dhillon, known for his counter-insurgency work in Kashmir, cautioned against a hasty political decision. “The peace in Kashmir has come about at a great cost of human lives… we should not rush into any hasty decision,” he posted, warning that the region was still in a “consolidation phase.”
Geopolitical analyst Arti Tikoo Singh described the rumour mill as “strong” and flagged a particularly controversial theory—that Kashmir and Jammu might be carved into two separate states. “If either is true, nothing could be more disastrous,” she said.
