New Delhi: The All Party Delegation that visited Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday pitched for dialogue with all stakeholders, to which the government said it was prepared for discussions with all but made no reference to separatist Hurriyat Conference.
At a three-hour long meeting, members of the Parliament who were in the delegation called for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue, confidence building measures and a “dual track” approach for bringing peace in the restive Valley.
The meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had led the delegation to Srinagar over the weekend, made it clear that there would be no compromise on national sovereignty.
The political parties appealed to the people of the state to shun the path of violence and resolve all issues through dialogue and discussion.
”The members of the delegation are of the opinion that there is no place for violence in a civilised society. There can be no compromise on issue of national sovereignty,” the resolution, read out by Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh, said.
While the resolution requested the central and state governments to take steps for dialogue with all stake holders, Left Parties batted for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue and announcement of confidence building measures such as withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from civilian areas.
Without making any reference to separatists including Hurriyat Conference, the statement asked the central and state governments “to take steps for a dialogue with all stake holders”.
While some opposition leaders met Hurriyat Conference leaders lodged in various sub jails, hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani refused to meet them.
Asked whether separatists would also come under the purview of “stakeholders”, Jitendra Singh said the home minister is open for dialogue with “all stake holders”. He did not elaborate.
To a similar question, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the separatist amalgamate is part of the “all stake holders”.
Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) said there was no discussion on the performance of Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party.
Asaduddin Owaisi, leader of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, said personally he felt that the alliance of the PDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party has failed to handle the current situation, which continued for too long, leading to “the present mess”.
While demanding release of those “illegally jailed” in the Kashmir Valley, the AIMIM leader said Union Home Minister should talk to the editors of four leading newspapers of Kashmir.
Yechury said government should follow up its Kashmir outreach initiative by taking concrete steps like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had declared a unilateral ceasefire and held talks with militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.
APD Meet Achieved Nothing: Omar
SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that the All Party Delegation (APD), which visited the unrest-hit Kashmir this week, achieved “nothing” and there is “no sense of urgency” to control the situation.
“I’m struggling to find a single achievement that the all party delegation can lay claim to after visiting J&K. Nothing comes to mind as yet!” Omar tweeted.
His tweet came shortly after the members of the delegation, which was headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, met in New Delhi to discuss the outcome of the two-day visit on September 4 and 5 to Kashmir.
The delegation issued a statement, appealing for peace in the Valley. Omar said if the delegation had to issue just an appeal, it could have done it without visiting the Valley. “If all they had to do was issue this tame & sterile appeal they could very easily have done so without wasting the time and money on a visit,” he said.
Rajnath Sing Visiting Valley Again
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will fly to Srinagar for the fourth time to get one final word about Kashmir.
Unlike meeting delegations, he will get the leaders from all the unionist parties for a joint brainstorming to suggest Delhi what it should do.
This consensus will finally be discussed by the cabinet in Delhi, highly informed sources said.
Though not many details are available about the new way-out for moving ahead but it was clear that the all-party mechanism is not interested in moving ahead on anything unless it does not get a go-ahead from J&K unionists.
It was not known when the event will take place but sources said that all the parties including NC, PDP, Congress and BJP will be invited to this off-camera meeting.
This marks a clear departure from the earlier policy that Delhi had made public that it would strictly go ahead as per the suggestions that its ally PDP will make. Now BJP will consider what J&K’s unionists block would suggest.
The presentation that was made by the ministry, on basis of the inputs that APD got during the overnight stay in Srinagar, also suggested that the government must isolate the separatists and tackle them sternly.
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