Jammu, Aug. 18 -- Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana on Sunday started a signature campaign from his Mendhar constituency in the Poonch district for the restoration of statehood to the Union Territory as announced by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Addressing the Independence Day function in Srinagar on Friday, Chief Minister Abdullah referred to the observations made by the Supreme Court about the Pahalgam attack during a recent hearing of a plea for the restoration of statehood, and said it is unfortunate that people of the region are being "punished" for a crime in which they played no role.

"The Supreme Court has given the government eight weeks to respond. From today, we will use these eight weeks to go door to do...