New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday (August 15) announced that he will launch a massive door-to-door signature campaign to press the demand for restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and thereafter present the signatures to the Supreme Court.While referring to the observations made by the Supreme Court about the Pahalgam attack during the recent hearing of a petition for restoring J&K’s statehood, Abdullah said it was unfortunate that people of the region are being punished for a crime in which they played no role.“From today, we will use these eight weeks to go door-to-door in all 90 assembly segments for a signature campaign on the restoration of statehood. If people are not ready to sign the document, I will accept defeat,” Abdullah said on Fridy during his Independence Day speech at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar, reported Press Trust of India.Abdullah said the Supreme Court has given the government eight weeks to respond.“We will have to take these voices from our offices to the doors where these decisions are taken,” he said.He added that the signature campaign documents will be submitted to the Supreme Court.Abdullah termed the Supreme Court referring to the Pahalgam terror attack during the hearing of the petition for restoring statehood as “unfortunate.”“There were unfortunate comments in the Supreme Court that the Pahalgam attack should be considered when statehood is decided. Will the killers of Pahalgam and their masters in the neighbouring country decide whether we will be a state? Every time we will be close to statehood, they will do something to sabotage it. Is this fair? Why are we being punished for the crime we have no role in. From Kathua to Kupwara, people came out on their own to protest against the Pahalgam attack. Unfortunately, today we are being punished for the Pahalgam attack,” said Abdullah.On August 14, the Supreme Court had said that it was crucial to consider ground realities in Jammu and Kashmir, citing the Pahalgam terror attack, while hearing a plea seeking restoration of statehood in J&K.The bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran had said that instances like the Pahalgam terror attack could not be ignored in response to the petitioners’ argument that 21 months had passed since the Article 370 judgement.