Srinagar, July 17 -- Political parties on Wednesday welcomed the Congress initiative, asking the prime minister to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, as Chief minister Omar Abdullah said "we are not demanding something that was not promised to us".

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at Jammu, Abdullah said the Supreme Court's directive to the Centre to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood "as soon as possible" came long ago.

The chief minister was reacting to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi jointly writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the BJP-led Centre to bring a legislation in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament to grant full...