Gupkar alliance meeting scheduled for Tuesday postponed

The constituents of an alliance formed in Jammu & Kashmir last year for the restoration of the region’s special status decided to postpone its meeting in Srinagar, which was scheduled for Tuesday, due to “personal engagement” of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah was scheduled to chair the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) meeting at his Gupkar residence in Srinagar at 11 am on Tuesday to deliberate upon its strategy in the wake of its June 24 meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

However, senior CPI(M) leader, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is the spokesperson of the alliance, told DH that the meeting had been postponed due to the “personal engagement” of Mufti, who is vice-chairperson of the alliance.

Earlier, he said the meeting was scheduled to discuss the developments that happened in New Delhi on June 24. “As we couldn’t meet each other either after meeting the Prime Minister or after coming back from Delhi, we decided to meet and exchange our notes on the meeting with the PM.”

“As some of the leaders of the PAGD were not part of the meeting with the PM, we will brief them about the developments that happened in New Delhi

Asked what the agenda of the latest meeting is, he said there is no specific agenda. However, sources said the meeting has been called to discuss the issues that emerged at the recently held All Party Meeting in Delhi.

“The PAGD leaders are under pressure as nothing concrete came out of their meeting with the PM. To exhibit the unity, the latest meeting has been called,” they said.

14 leaders of eight political parties - the NC, PDP, BJP, Congress, Apni Party, CPI (M), People's Conference, and the Panthers Party – held a meeting with Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting, first such exercise between the Centre and political leadership mainly from Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked the special status of J&K and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories, ended on expected lines, with the PM urging the parties to get on board with delimitation to enable Assembly elections.

Four leaders from the PAGD, including Abdullah, his son Omar, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Tarigami were among the 14 leaders who met the PM on June 24. The PAGD is an alliance of NC, PDP, CPM, Peoples Movement and Awami National Conference, formed in October last by Kashmir centric leaders with the pledge towards restoration of the special status of J&K revoked by the Centre in August 2019.