Mehbooba Mufti, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has arrived in Delhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s all-party meeting on Thursday.
According to official sources, Modi will discuss restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) when he meets with mainstream political parties from the region on Thursday. This is a significant milestone that India’s top leadership has set its sights on after months of strategizing by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
According to people familiar with the situation, J&K will be awarded statehood shortly, as promised by Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in the past, but there would be no negotiations about reinstating the region’s unique status.
The central government revoked J&K’s special status under Article 370 on August 5, 2019, and divided the former state into two Union Territories: J&K with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one.
Several political leaders and activists in the Kashmir Valley were subjected to limitations as a result of the historic decision. Authorities gradually relaxed the restrictions and freed detained lawmakers.
Mufti stated on Tuesday, ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s all-party meeting, that peace in the area cannot be restored unless the “illegal” and “unconstitutional” act of revocation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status is reversed.
She told reporters at the end of a huddle of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) that she will fight for the reinstatement of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, which was “snatched away from us” during a meeting with the prime minister on Thursday.
“The agenda of the alliance, for which this alliance has been formed, what has been snatched away from us, we will talk on that, that it was a mistake and it was illegal and unconstitutional, without restoring which the issue of J-K (cannot be resolved) and the situation in J-K (cannot improve) and peace in the whole region cannot be restored,” she had said.
Mehbooba, who was joined by other coalition leaders, including Farooq Abdullah, the alliance’s chairwoman, said the Centre should engage in discussion with everyone, including Pakistan, to address the Kashmir problem.
They (India) are in Doha, talking to the Taliban. She had suggested that they should talk to everyone in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Pakistan, about resolving the Kashmir issue.
The PDP president stated that her party was never opposed to engagement with the Centre, but that the people of Jammu and Kashmir needed certain confidence-building measures, such as the release of prisoners, as in other regions of the nation owing to COVID.
