Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha called on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in New Delhi. Sinha is learnt to have apprised the defence minister about the security scenario in the union territory. Singh on Sunday held separate meetings with the lieutenant governors of Ladakh.Issues related to the overall development of Ladakh figured in Singh's meeting with Lt Governor R K Mathur, people familiar with the deliberations. (PTI Photo)
All eyes on J&K all-party meet on June 24
Srinagar, June 20 (PTI): National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday started the process of consultations with senior leaders of the party over the invitation for talks from the Centre to mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir.
Former chief minister Abdullah met senior leaders of the party, including NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar and provincial president of Kashmir Nasir Aslam Wani, a party leader said.
He said the others who attended meeting were Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Mian Altaf, Mubarak Gul, Sakina Itoo, Khalid Najeeb Suhurwardy and two Members of Parliament Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi.
The party leader said Abdullah had called the leaders for consultations over the issue of the invitation for the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
The consultations are on. After the party president is done talking to party leaders, a meeting of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) will take place where the member parties will discuss the issue and take a collective decision, he said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the NC's Kashmir provincial president Wani said the process of deliberations over the Centre's invite has been started by Abdullah.
The party president has started the process of consultations with the senior party leaders and these meetings will continue till tomorrow. The consultations with few senior leaders took place today, he (Abdullah) will meet few more in the evening and some tomorrow morning. I think, we will be able to give a clear picture to you by tomorrow, he said.
Wani, however, said the NC has not so far called any structured or organised meeting to take a decision over the issue.
The party leader also said he does not know if and when the PAGD will meet, but if it does, the issue may be discussed there.
PDP authorises Mehbooba
The political affairs committee (PAC) -- the highest decision making body of the PDP on Sunday authorised party president Mehbooba Mufti to take a call on the invitation of the Centre to mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir for talks.
The decision was taken after a two-hour-long meeting of the PAC which was chaired by Mehbooba at her 'Fairview' residence in Gupkar area of the city here.
The meeting was called to take a call on the party's participation in the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 24.
The PAC unanimously authorised the party president to take a final decision on the matter, PDP chief spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari told reporters outside Mehbooba's residence after the meeting.
Bukhari said a meeting of the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) will take place on Tuesday where the member parties will discuss the issue and then a final decision will be taken on whether to participate or not in the meeting called by the Prime Minister.
After two days, the PAGD is meeting, this issue will be discussed. The members of the alliance will give their suggestions and a decision on the way forward will be taken there and afterwards, a decision will be taken over the participation of the meeting, he said.
Earlier, the PAC which includes party leaders Abdul Rehman Veeri, Mohammad Sartaj Madni, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, Mehboob Beg, Naeem Akhtar, Surinder Choudhary, Yashpal Sharma, Master Tassaduq Hussain, Sofi Abdul Gaffar, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Aasiya Naqash, Firdous Ahmad Tak, and Muhammad Yusuf Bhat met at Mehbooba's residence.
Madni was released from a six-month-long preventive detention on Saturday, hours after Mehbooba received the invitation over phone for the meeting.
The PM's meeting with all political parties from Jammu and Kashmir is part of the Centre's initiatives to bolster political processes, including holding assembly elections, in the union territory.
Invitations were sent out to 14 political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including four former chief ministers, for participation in a high-level meeting to be chaired by the prime minister, which is expected to set the road map for holding assembly elections in the UT.
These leaders of eight political parties -- the National Conference (NC), PDP, BJP, Congress, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, CPI(M), People's Conference, and the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party -- were telephonically invited by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla for participation in the meeting to be held at the prime minister's residence at 3 PM on Thursday.
This will be the prime minister's first interaction with all the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir since August 5, 2019 when the Centre abrogated the state's special status and bifurcated it into union territories. The erstwhile state has been under the Centre's rule since June 2018.
