Parties pitch for parleys with all

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 24

With Kashmir continuing to remain on the edge, all political parties and groups today pitched for initiating a political dialogue with all stakeholders.

Almost all major political parties which called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived on a two-day visit today to review the situation, appealed for beginning a political dialogue as one of the measures to control the situation in Kashmir.

A delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pleaded for an unconditional dialogue. “We suggested that an unconditional dialogue process should begin for resolution of the Kashmir issue. There should be no rider for the dialogue so that there is no excuse for anyone to skip it,” said PDP lawmaker Abdu Rahim Rather, who was part of the party delegation. He said they asked for maximum restraint by forces on the roads to avoid civilian killings.

The National Conference (NC) appealed for a sustained dialogue. “The first and foremost thing to address the problem is to initiate a two-pronged dialogue — one with Pakistan and the other with Kashmiri leaders,” said senior NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar, who was part of the NC delegation. The NC delegation, led by Omar Abdullah, demanded an immediate ban on the use of pellet guns.

The Congress urged the Centre to initiate a sustained political dialogue with all stakeholders. The delegation, led by state unit president GA Mir, apprised him of the extremely turbulent situation.

The delegation urged the Centre to initiate a comprehensive, meaningful and sustained political dialogue with all stakeholders. The Congress had skipped the meeting with the Home Minister last month.

The BJP urged the Centre to reach out to the younger generation. “We pleaded that there was an urgent need to reach out to the younger generation as there was anger among them,” said BJP legislator Surinder Ambardar, who was part of the delegation.

Democratic Party Nationalist president and former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir said they urged the Home Minister to take forward practically the process of dialogue and permanent resolution. “I reminded him that the Prime Minister had recently emphasised on dialogue for finding a lasting solution to the problem. There should be movement forward on it,” he said.