While the Congress on Thursday placed five demands in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s crucial meeting with leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference told the Prime Minister that it doesn’t “stand with what was done on August 5, 2019”. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said in the meeting that people of Jammu and Kashmir do not accept the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated “unconstitutionally, illegally and immorally”.
Fourteen prominent leaders from Jammu and Kashmir took part in the meeting, the first high-level interaction between the Centre and political leadership mainly from Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the state was bifurcated into two Union Territories.
Former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state Ghulam Nabi Azad, who led the party’s three-member delegation, said soon after the meeting that his party demanded restoring full statehood and holding elections. While talking about Congress’s five key demands, Azad said, “We kept five demands in the meeting—grant statehood soon, conduct Assembly elections, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, all political detainees should be released and on domicile rules.”
All leaders demanded full-fledged statehood. “Almost 80 per cent of parties spoke on Article 370, but the matter was sub-judice in court,’’ he added. “They said they are doing everything to strengthen the democracy. We also want this and Assembly elections should be conducted at the earliest. You did Panchayat election, and there should also be legislative elections,” he said. “We had historic domicile rules and also rules regarding employment. The government should give a guarantee that they will bring bills on land and employment,” Azad said.The Congress leader said his party also demanded rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits and promised the government to help in the process. “We asked the government to release all the political prisoners, not the militants, but political prisoners, at the earliest,” Azad said.
Besides Azad, former deputy CM Tarachand and state president of the Congress Ghulam Ahmed Mir was also part of Congress delegation. While talking about the issue of restoration of full statehood, Mir told this paper that all parties have raised the matter and Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government is committed to granting statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
This stand of the Congress was chalked out at a June 22 meeting which was attended by party president Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, former union Minister P. Chidambarm and others. The decision to attend the deliberations with the Prime Minister was taken at this meeting which was chaired by Sonia Gandhi.
Speaking to the media after the all-party meeting with the Prime Minister, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said: “As it was an open discussion, we have put our views openly. We told Prime Minister that we don’t stand with what was done on August 5, 2019. We’re not ready to accept it. But we won’t take the law into our hands. We will fight this in court, and hope that we’ll get justice there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti said that she has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that people of Jammu and Kashmir do not accept the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated “unconstitutionally, illegally and immorally”.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Mufti said, “People of Jammu and Kashmir are in a lot of difficulties after August 5, 2019. They are angry, upset and emotionally shattered. They feel humiliated.”
WITH AGENCY INPUTS