SRINAGAR: National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said that all the PAGD members invited for the all-party meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the meeting.
“All those invited for all party meeting with PM will attend,” Abdullah told reporters after chairing the meeting of PAGD at his residence.
He said the agenda of the PAGD (Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration) remains the same and that they will put it forth in the meeting with PM Modi.
“Our stand is clear and all of you know what our stand is. Since New Delhi has invited the leaders individually, we have decided that all those invited will attend the meeting and put forth their points on J&K,” said Abdullah while also saying that the PAGD leaders would pitch for the release of political prisoners.
The chief spokesperson of the PAGD and CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said that they will not ask for stars during the meeting with the PM. “We will seek something that is ours and will remain ours,” he said, as per news agency KNO.
He said that they will go to Delhi and represent the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. “We will put forth the aspirations of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh in the meeting. Whatever is possible within the Indian constitution is what we are going to seek,” said Tarigami.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that earlier there was a suggestion that only Dr Farooq would represent PAGD in the June 24 meeting but now there is a consensus that all those who have been invited will go.
“We are not against the dialogue. My late father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has always advocated dialogue for resolution of issues. I believe New Delhi should have released all political prisoners for creating an atmosphere for talks but it didn’t,” she said. “Now we will demand the release of political prisoners as there are many who are ill in jails. We will also seek immediate shifting of prisoners back to J&K jails from various Indian prisons.”
The PM’s June 24th meeting with the 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.
The PAGD is an amalgam of six mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), formed in the aftermath of the Centre’s August 2019 decision to nullify Article 370 and split J&K into two union territories.
The leaders of eight political parties — the NC, PDP, BJP, Congress, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, CPI(M), People’s Conference, and the 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 in the national capital at 3 pm on Thursday.
The invitees include four former chief ministers National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.