Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence for an all-party meet. A few minutes earlier, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Sajad Lone also left for the meeting from Jammu and Kashmir House in Delhi.
The three BJP leaders – Ravinder Raina, Nirmal Singh, and Kavinder Gupta – of Jammu and Kashmir also reached the PM’s residence.
Other leaders, including Farooq Abdullah, have left from their places for the Prime Minister’s residence.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also left to attend the meeting which will begin at 3 p.m. Earlier in the day, Shah had briefed Modi about the security situation in the Valley.
The prime minister has invited 14 leaders of mainstream political parties from Jammu and Kashmir for the all-party meeting.
Ahead of the all-party meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, National Panthers Party’s (NPP) president Bhim Singh arrived at the Jammu and Kashmir House in Delhi and said the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored. Speaking to ANI, Singh said, “I am here as I am invited (to join the All-Party Meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi). The statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored.”
Sources said that there is no official agenda for the meeting and it would be a freewheeling discussion. However, Jammu and Kashmir leaders have indicated that they will press for the restoration of Article 370 and full statehood.
For now, we will not talk about this. People of J&K are in distress since the August 5, 2019 decision of degrading and bifurcating the state.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir on being asked if he is against the restoration of Article 370.
Nearly two years after the revocation of J&K’s special status, Prime Minister is all set to chair the all-party meeting of the Valley leaders in New Delhi.
This is the first outreach initiative from the Centre since the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two union territories.