Say, will go with an open mind
New Delhi/Jammu, Jun 23: The stage is all set for an all-party meeting, scheduled to be held Thursday, June 24 in New Delhi as the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, who were invited for the meeting, arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The Thursday All-Party Meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to be held in New Delhi at 03:00 PM.
With no agenda announced for the Thursday meeting, the J&K leaders said they will go with an open mind. “We have not been given an agenda. We will be attending the meeting to know what the Centre is offering,” said CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is also a spokesman for the PAGD.
The Communist leader said the PAGD will “be out there to protect the interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
This is the first meeting between Jammu and Kashmir mainstream parties and the Prime Minister after the Centre revoked the erstwhile state’s special status and carved two union territories out of it in August 2019.
While the PAGD – a grouping of the National Conference, PDP, CPM, CPI, Awami National Conference and People’s Movement – has decided to attend the meeting, the constituents will be sending their individual representatives as well, indicating the bloc might be having a difference of opinion over the key issue of restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources informed that the J&K leaders including Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti, JK Congress (JKPCC) chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Apni Party president Syed Altaf Bukhari and CPI (M) senior leader Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami and Congress leader Tara Chand have arrived New Delhi today.
Congress senior leader and former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, also among the invitees, is already in New Delhi while Peoples Conference (PC) Chairman Sajad Ghani Lone has reached yesterday and NC vice president and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, has been in New Delhi for over one week.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J&K president Ravinder Raina has also reached New Delhi today while former Deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh will reach New Delhi tomorrow to participate in the All-Party Meeting.
National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah is leaving for New Delhi tomorrow, sources said.
Pertinently, soon after the mainstream parties were invited for the meeting, hectic deliberations took place within the political parties as well as People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a conglomerate of mainstream political parties comprising of NC, PDP, CPI (M), Jammu Kashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM) and Awami National Conference (ANC).
National Conference, meanwhile, continued intra-party interactions and a delegation of Jammu-based leaders headed by Devendra Rana met party president Farooq Abdullah at the latter’s residence here on Wednesday.
“Our only stand is a single J-K, to maintain its unity and integrity and respecting the wishes and aspirations of the people of J-K,” Rana said.
He said dialogue and inclusiveness is an important and vital essence of democracy.
“Any dialogue that can take us out of this morass and can lead to the welfare of the state of J-K and its people, we are all for it,” he said.
Meanwhile, JKPCC president G A Mir when contacted said that the leaders after hearing the agenda of the meeting will raise the issues confronting the people, decision taken on August 05, 2019 and the situation on ground that arose after BJP government’s decision two years back.
