At an all-party meeting chaired by Governor NN Vohra on Friday, National Conference and Panthers Party called for dissolving the Assembly while BJP and PDP “maintained silence” on the issue.
The Congress left it to the Governor to decide on the fate of the Assembly that is currently in suspended animation after BJP withdrew support to PDP and Governor rule was imposed in the state.
Vohra had called the meeting to seek cooperation of political parties in running affairs of the state and to seek their suggestions for pulling Kashmir out of uncertainty.
The representatives of NC, PDP, Congress, BJP, PC, PDF, Panthers Party, CPI (M) and Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN) participated in more than the two-hour long meeting at Raj Bhavan here.
Reiterating his party’s stand, former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah demanded immediate dissolution of the Assembly.
A participant told Greater Kashmir on the condition of anonymity that Omar told the meeting that since there are apprehensions of horse trading the Assembly should be dissolved.
Omar also urged the Governor to take some confidence building measures and ensure zero-tolerance towards human rights violations.
State Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir said, “The Governor will take a call on fate of the Assembly. He will decide whether to keep it in suspended animation or dissolve it.”
Mir said his party made it clear that they won’t be part of horse trading or any government formation in the state.
Mir, however, said all parties apprehend horse trading.
The ruling PDP, which was represented by its general secretary Muhammad Dilawar Mir, demanded that “held-up” constituency development fund of MLAs should be released.
Panthers Party representative and former minister Harshdev Singh said his party strongly advocated dissolution of the Assembly.
“National Conference supported dissolution of the Assembly. The Congress did not come out so openly but was supportive of the idea. The BJP representative was silent about it,” Singh said.
BJP was represented by Sat Sharma during the meeting. Democratic Nationalist Party chief Ghulam Hassan Mir said there was need for addressing the perception that Governor’s rule would be harsh.
“All political parties gave their suggestions on how to counter it,” he said.
Chairman of Peoples Democratic Front and MLA Khansahab Hakim Muhammad Yasin demanded more confidence building measures for addressing “alienation” in Kashmir.
“We need to find ways and means to address alienation among youngsters. We are also responsible for the current situation,” he said.