Ahead of the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday, the People’s Alliance of Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has made it clear that there would be no compromise on Articles 370 and 35A.
PAGD, a group of five political parties, met here at the residence of its chairman, Farooq Abdullah, to discuss its approach and agenda for the meeting. The meeting which started at 11.00 am lasted about 90 minutes. Politicians who attended the meeting included NC MP Justice (R) Hasnain Masoodi, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Muzzafar Shah of Awami National Conference, Javed Mustafa Mir of Peoples Movement, M.Y. Tarigami and Abdul Rehman Tukroo of CPI(M).
After the meeting, it was announced that PAGD leaders Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Yousuf Tarigami will attend the meeting called by the Prime Minister on 24 June.
“We have received invitations individually from the Prime Minister and we are going to attend,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters. Mehbooba Mufti wanted Farooq to represent the group and skip the meeting but since the invitations were sent to individuals so she was asked to accompany two other leaders from the group.
“We are confident that we will put our stand before the Prime Minister and Home Minister,” Farooq, who represents Srinagar in the Lok Sabha, said. When asked what would be the agenda of PAGD in the meeting, he said that though they have not been informed about the agenda but they have their “own agenda” which is known to everyone. PAGD was formed primarily to fight for the restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir scrapped by the Central government on 5 August 2019.
“When the meeting ends, we will brief you on what we have done there, what we said and what was the response,” he said.
Tarigami, the spokesman of the group, said that there should be no “mistaken belief that we are going to sign on the agenda set by them. We are going to see what the proposal is. If it is in the interest of people, we say yes and if otherwise there is going to be a big no.”
PAGD member Muzaffar Shah announced that there shall be no compromise on Articles 370 and 35A.
Meanwhile, the Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari is going to raise the issues of job security and land rights for locals during the meeting. Rafi Ahmed Mir of the party said that they would also push for speeding up of the hearing on Articles 370 and 35A in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, PDP chief and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that India should hold a dialogue with Pakistan to bring peace in the region.
While replying to questions after PAGD meet in Srinagar, Mehbooba said, “If they can talk to the Taliban, they should have a dialogue with us and with Pakistan too in order to bring about a resolution.”
Mehbooba also demanded release of detainees languishing in various jails of the country. “This could have been the biggest CBM. Families are borrowing money to meet their relatives languishing in jails outside J&K. Keeping Covid situation in mind, they should be released or at least shifted to J&K,” she said.