Restoration of statehood and article 370 to J&K were among series of other demand that dominated the crucial All Party Meeting (APM) of Jammu and Kashmir politicians chaired by Prime Minister Narendera Modi in New Delhi and co-chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday.
Among other issues raised by the leaders of political parties were rollback of domicile laws, holding assembly elections and guaranteeing the land laws and job rights.
The meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere and the Prime Minister gave a very patient hearing to all the participants who put forth their views on various political issues related to J&K.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told a group of leaders from J&K in All-Party Meet that the Assembly elections there will be held after the completion of the ongoing delimitation exercise. PM stressed that holding Assembly elections, just like the successful conduct of the District Development Council polls, is a priority and that the polls can happen soon after the delimitation exercise, the sources said, adding that by and large most participants expressed willingness for it.
People’s Conference leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig said after a crucial meeting to chalk out the future course of action in the Union Territory. “The meeting was very cordial and very positive, very dignified. We all agreed that we must work for democracy. The prime minister has assured that he will do everything to make Jammu and Kashmir a zone of peace rather than a zone of conflict,” Baig told reporters after the meeting.
Baig said the government side conveyed that the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held after the completion of the ongoing delimitation process. However, he said, no time frame has been given on holding the polls.
“Almost everyone at the meeting raised the demand for restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding the prime minister carefully listened to every issue raised by the political leaders.
The Prime Minister stressed that an atmosphere of safety and security needs to be ensured for all sections of society in Jammu and Kashmir and he wanted to remove ‘Dilli ki Duri as well as ‘Dil Ki Duri’ (distance from Delhi as well as the distance of heart), according to the sources.
During the three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting, almost all the 14 leaders from Jammu and Kashmir demanded that its statehood, which was removed in August 2019, should be restored, he said.
According to official sources, the main focus of the meeting was to strengthen the democratic process and the Prime Minister said that the government was “fully committed” to it. On statehood, Home Minister Amit Shah has said it will be restored at an appropriate time.
This is the first interaction between the Central leadership and the mainstream parties since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated it into union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The meeting had no specific agenda, with leaders free to raise what they want.
Before entering the meeting, the Chairman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah again hailed the PM’s initiative and distanced himself from PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s remarks that the Centre should also talk to Pakistan for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.
“I don’t want to talk about Pakistan. I will talk to my own Prime Minister,” Abdullah said when asked what he thought of Mufti’s remarks being her ally in the PAGD.
Abdullah said Mufti has her agenda and party and he, in the NC, had his separate agenda.
“The meeting is a very welcome step, much needed for easing tensions in JK. We are going with an open mind,” he said.
At least 20 leaders from J&K participated in the meeting that started at 3 pm. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, said that three members from the party put forth five demands before the PM, which includes restoration of Statehood, conducting assembly elections, domicile rights to J&K residents only, return of Kashmiri Pandits to Jammu and Kashmir and release of political prisoners.
About Article 370 abrogation, Azad while talking to reporters after attending the meeting, said that majority of the leaders during the meeting have stated that the issue is already sub-judice.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that she told the PM that people of J&K are angry and humiliated post-August 5, 2019. “I told the PM that the way article 370 was unconstitutionally and illegally revoked by the BJP. I told him that PDP and people of J&K will fight for months and years to get back Article 370 as we have not got it from Pakistan from China but from Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Valabhai Patel and that restoring special status was highly inevitable,” she said.
The PDP chief said that she told the PM that if the Government of India is talking to China why it can’t take forward the process with Pakistan. “I told him that the fresh talks have led to ceasefire and zero infiltration and that why can’t it go further,” she said.
Kashmir parties have been wary of the delimitation and feel it’s an attempt to alter the demography of the area and undermine the significance of the Valley in the overall electoral process.
NC had boycotted the first meet of the delimitation commission in February this year saying it cannot participate in the exercise that flows from the JK Reorganisation Act which it has challenged in the apex court.
Twenty-two petitions against the law (passed by Parliament on August 5, 2019 bifurcating the state and abrogating special status) are pending hearing before a Constitution Bench of the SC.
The meeting is being attended by four former CMs Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti; four former JK deputy CMs Nirmal Singh, Kavinder Gupta, Tara Chand, Muzaffar Baig present along with chiefs of mainstream JK parties including state Congress president GA Mir, BJP state chief Ravinder Raina, JK Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh, Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone.
