APM certainly breaks deadlock!
The leaders of various political parties from Jammu Kashmir invited for talks with the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi reached New Delhi and their spokesperson MY Tarigami has said they will meet the PM with an open mind.
Enough debate and discussion have taken place and reported in the media over the proposed All Party Meeting (APM) with the PM since the day of its announcement. Speculations were rife in the political circles on the Agenda of the said meeting which is not made public. Invited leaders that included four former Chief Ministers and leaders particularly from NC, PDP, Congress, JKPC, Apni Party and CPIM though are clueless about what the centre has in mind, but they certainly have come prepared on the ‘core issues' for them like restoration of pre-August 05, 2019 position in Jammu Kashmir on which they are on the same page.
After hectic inter-party and Intra-party deliberations, they seem to have drawn a collective response before the centre. The meeting that is to be presided by the Prime Minister and likely to be assisted by the Home Minister and other senior officers would definitely listen to the J&K leaders and discuss the ways to start a political process in the state to end the political stalemate. While the discussion may touch on the issues put forth by the J&K leaders, any possibility of reversal to the pre-August 05, 2019 position is ruled out except for the assurance of restoring the statehood at some appropriate time that the centre had already announced during the discussions in the parliament. However, the centre may ask the participants to take part in the phased political revival by participation in the Delimitation process, Election to JK UT Assembly, Return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley etc.
Anyway, 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.
The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated a political process in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir by calling an all-party meeting is a well-received decision to break the deadlock prevailing almost for the last two years.
Further, all political parties are agreed on the view that dialogue is the only way forward. They also know that the present political stalemate will do no good to the people of J&K and the nation. By no stretch of imagination can it be said that the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh in August 2019 can be brought back by the present dispensation at the Centre.
Many people are sceptical about the APM and do not expect much out of the meeting. But, whatever may be the outcome, one thing is sure, the initiative has at least has broken the deadlock and it is good for peace, progress and politics in Jammu Kashmir.
