The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a six-party coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, will meet on Tuesday to decide on their “joint strategy” in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to an all-party meeting on June 24.
On the all-party meeting in Delhi, PAGD spokesman Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said, “Everyone (from the alliance) is likely to attend this meeting in which the alliance leadership will take a decision about the invitation.”
He also stated that after holding consultations, the alliance leaders will adopt a joint strategy. The meeting will take place on Tuesday morning at Farooq Abdullah’s home in Srinagar, where he is the president of the National Conference and a former chief minister.
Fourteen leaders, including former chief ministers and deputy chief ministers, as well as heads of mainstream political parties, have been invited to the meeting.
PM Modi will meet with political parties in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since the central government removed the state’s special status and divided it into Union Territories on August 5, 2019. A year later, in October 2020, the PAGD, a coalition of six political parties, was formed to fight for the restoration of Kashmir’s pre-August 5, 2019 status.
The PDP has already given party president Mehbooba Mufti authority to decide on the invitation from Delhi, while Farooq Abdullah, the president of the National Conference and former chief minister of Jammu, has called a meeting of senior party leaders from Jammu on Wednesday. The majority view in Farooq Abdullah’s consultations so far is that the NC should attend the all-party meeting and express its position, particularly on the revocation of Article 370 and the state’s autonomy.
The National Conference will be represented by two parliament members, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, in addition to Farooq Abdullah. Tarigami has also been invited to serve as the general secretary of the organisation.
