The meeting will be the first such political engagement since the Centre stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status in August 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold an all-party meeting on Jammu & Kashmir next week, an official in his office said and added the schedule for it has been tentatively fixed.
The meeting will be the first such political engagement since the Centre stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status in August 2019 and split it into two Union territories.
A second official said the government was keen to restart the democratic process in the region and there has been an effort to speak to public representatives to have them participate in it. The parties have agreed informally and after they come to Delhi to meet Modi next week, some announcement is expected, the second official said.
The National Conference (NC)–Jammu & Kashmir’s oldest party and the architect of the special status–has said it was reconsidering its position on boycotting such meetings till the region’s special status and statehood was restored
HT has learnt that the region’s political parties may also agree to participate in the Delimitation Commission proceedings. The commission was set up in March 2020 to redraw the constituencies of Jammu & Kashmir before the next assembly elections are held
A meeting Union home minister Amit Shah chaired in Delhi on Friday is seen to have been part of the preparations for the all-party meet even as the agenda for it was developmental issues and the current situation in Jammu & Kashmir.
Jammu & Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials attended Shah’s meeting on Friday. In a statement, the home ministry said Shah called all-around development and welfare of people of Jammu & Kashmir the government’s top priority. It added Shah congratulated Sinha and his team for ensuring the Covid-19 vaccination drive has reached 76% of the target in the Union territory and 100% in its four districts.
The statement said Shah asked authorities to ensure the farmers in the region get the benefits of the central schemes.
Jammu & Kashmir has been without an elected government since chief minister Mehbooba Mufti lost power when the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew support to the People’s Democratic Party-led government in June 2018.
Mufti and two other former chief ministers were among hundreds of people arrested in the run-up to the nullification of the Constitution’s Article 370 that stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its special status. A communications blackout and a lockdown were also imposed to stem protests against the move. All the restrictions have since been removed.
The first major electoral exercise–District Development Council polls–was held in the region as part of efforts to restart political activities in Jammu & Kashmir last year. All major political parties participated in the exercise. The parties have also shown willingness to engage with the Centre.
