Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, sources have said that there will be no discussion on Article 370 in the meeting. The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has, for the first time in the past two years, invited Kashmir-based political parties to hold a dialogue on the future of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per sources, the progress report of the commission constituted for delimitation will be discussed. It will be the endeavour of the Central government that all the parties have a consensus regarding the delimitation, the sources said. Apart from this, there will be a discussion regarding the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.
The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, which was bifurcated into two Union Territories, J&K and Ladakh, saw a freeze in political activities for the past two years. Though the BDC and DDC elections were held, the people here demand their own legislators and ministers to carry on day-to-day activities. Sensing the sentiment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union government invited Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ghulam Nabi Azad and other mainstream leaders to hold an all-party meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Though the Centre has not yet disclosed its agenda for the dialogue, it is significant as any such high-level meeting discussing the future of Kashmir is happening after almost two years.
On Tuesday, the Farooq Abdullah-led People›s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) held a meeting in Srinagar in which the alliance partners made it clear that they all would be participating in the meeting. Though former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti tried to bring Pakistan into the conversation, the Central government made it clear that the only thing that would be discussed is Jammu & Kashmir.
“India should hold the dialogue process with all stakeholders and should also hold dialogue with Pakistan,” Mehboba Mufti told reporters soon after the PAGD meeting. Dr Farooq
Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and president of the National Conference, said that all the members of the PAGD were of the opinion that all the invitees should attend the meeting.
“We have decided that all of us who have been invited will go and attend the meeting that is being held, but our agenda is clear that we want to respect the sentiments of people of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, which is the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A.”
Jammu and Kashmir Congress leadership met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and during the meeting, it was decided that Congress will take part in an all-party meeting called by PM Modi.
Congress state president Ghulam Ahmed Mir, while speaking exclusively with The Sunday Guardian, said that the Congress will ask the Prime Minister to clear its agenda for the meeting; only after the PM clears its agenda, the Congress will put forward its stand.
“First thing is that this is for the first time in seven years that the PM has initiated a democratic outreach to the political parties of Jammu Kashmir and it’s a welcome step and being a responsible party, we will first ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear the agenda of the meeting; only then, we will put forward our agenda,” said Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief.
On the other hand, the BJP has also batted for restoration of statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir, said former Deputy Chief Minister and senior leader of Jammu & Kashmir BJP, Kavinder Gupta.