A day after separatists refused to hold talks with the all-party delegation, Home Minister Rajnath Singh lashed out at Kashmiri separatists for snubbing members of the delegation of Parliamentarians.
Advertisement
Justifying the refusal of separatist leaders to hold talks with the all-party delegation of MPs, hardline Hurriyat Conference on Monday said they were not invited officially as New Delhi is “scared” of any meaningful dialogue with them and Pakistan to address the issue.
He hits out at separatists for not participating in peace talks with the all-party delegation on Kashmir. But the Hurriyat chairman refused to even let them in and the three MPs left after waiting at his door for about ten minutes. Rajnath also reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that it would remain that way.
Ahead of the visit of the all-party delegation, the Centre approved the use of chilli-filled grenades as an alternative to pellet guns for crowd control.
On the second day of its visit, the delegation visited Jammu where the members met over 200 persons in about 18 different delegations from various sections of society. The issue has, however, been hijacked by 5% of people who believe in violence, ” a visibly upset Mehbooba said even as Singh tried to pacify her, constantly patting her on the knee.
Mr Drabu, a senior leader of the ruling People’s Democratic Party and author of its alliance agreement with the BJP, told NDTV that the behaviour of Mr Geelani, 86, was “unacceptable”.
The delegation will meet the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Shri N.N. Vohra later in the evening today.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said they have discussed the situation in the valley with the all-party delegation and put forth their views.
“I fear that time has come in Kashmir”, Omar said.
They said nobody is more aware than Mehbooba that the “Indian war machine is on a spree to kill, maim and disfigure an entire population into complete submission for demanding freedom, which is the birth right of all human beings”.
In addition to the political parties, delegations of academicians, teachers and student assciations, representatives of school management, prominent NGOs, representatives of Leh, Kargil, Pahari associations, Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Fruit & Saffron Growers associtions, Civil Society etc. also met the All Party meeting visiting Srinagar.
Advertisement
The delegation would also include central ministers Arun Jaitley, Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitendra Singh besides Ambika Soni (Congress), JD-U leader Sharad Yadav and D. Raja (CPI), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Anandrao Adsul, TDP’s Thota Narasimham, BJD leader Dilip Tirkey, AIUDF leader Badaruddin Ajmal and Muslim League’s E. Ahamed.
