Olive branch: 'J&K parties may soon get invite from New Delhi'

To break the political logjam in the union territory (UT), local parties of Jammu and Kashmir may soon get an invite from the Centre for a dialogue in New Delhi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting in New Delhi on Friday where he reviewed various development projects of J&K and stressed on “Development with Transparency” has given credence to recent reports that the Centre was preparing the ground for holding a meeting on Kashmir soon.

“If everything goes alright, formal invitation letters will be sent to all the top leaders of J&K mainstream parties both regional level and national level for participation in the round table conference in a week or so in New Delhi,” sources told DH.

They said the Centre was in touch with the leaders of Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Deceleration (PAGD) through intermediaries.

The PAGD -- an alliance of NC, PDP, CPM, Peoples Movement and Awami National Conference -- was formed in October last by Kashmir centric leaders with the pledge of perseverance and steadfastness towards the restoration of the special status of J&K revoked by the Centre in August 2019.

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However, CPI(M) leader, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is also the spokesperson of the PAGD, said they have not received any formal invitation from New Delhi yet. “If any leader of the PAGD is in touch with the Centre, I have no information about it. However, as an alliance nobody has reached out to us so far,” he told DH over the phone.

Tarigami said they always believe that dialogue is the only way to move forward and the onus of initiating lies on those who “arbitrarily and unconstitutionally revoked J&K’s special status and downgraded the erstwhile state into two UTs.”

Sources within the PAGD revealed that there was a lack of consensus among the constituents of the alliance on terms of engagement with New Delhi.

“Publicly all the constituents have stated that they want the pre-5 August 2019 position of J&K restored. It may be a reference point for the PAGD, but they can show some flexibility if the dialogue process has to start and move forward,” they added.

After chairing a meeting of the PAGD last week, the NC president Farooq Abdullah, who is also chairperson of the alliance, had said they had not shut the doors for dialogue with the Centre giving enough hints of their willingness to enter into talks with New Delhi.