New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday cited the recent terror attack in Pahalgam and observed that it was for the government to assess ground realities, even as it sought a response from the Centre on a plea for time-bound restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. A bench of Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai and justice K Vinod Chandran issued notice on the application, posting it for hearing after eight weeks. During the Thursday hearing, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for applicants Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, read from the Supreme Court's December 2023 judgment on the abrogation of Article 370 to argue that the court had refrained from deciding the statehood issue only because the solicitor general had assured it would be restored after elections. "Based on the submissions of the Union, the court was not drawn into answering that question because an assurance was given. Restoration of statehood was to be done after elections. It has been 21 months since that judgement. Our plea says it should be done within two months, but this court may fix any proper timeline and we will accept it," he said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, opposed the plea, calling it "not maintainable" and contending that "there are several considerations" in such decisions. "The elections were held. This stage is not the correct stage to muddy the water. I am not sure why this issue is being raised at this point. Put it after eight weeks," he submitted. At this point, the bench told Sankaranarayan: "You also have to take into consideration ground realities, and you cannot ignore what happened in Pahalgam in April. We do not possess all the expertise and there are some decisions to be made by the government." The application, filed through advocate Soyaib Qureshi, seeks restoration of statehood within a fixed time frame, preferably two months. The petitioners, an academician and a social activist, argued that prolonged Union territory status "violates the idea of federalism", and that peaceful assembly and Lok Sabha elections have shown there are no security impediments. On August 5, 2019, Parliament abrogated Article 370, which had granted special status to J&K, and bifurcated the state into two Union territories - J&K and Ladakh. A five-judge Constitution bench on December 11, 2023, upheld the move as a valid exercise of presidential power....