Mainstream leaders from Jammu and Kashmir arrived in Delhi for a key all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the first such outreach since the controversial scrapping of the region’s special status and its bifurcation two years ago.
The meeting drew lukewarm reactions in the Muslim-majority Valley where limited trust in mainstream parties and hostility over the revocation of Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir special status, persisted among residents.
The meeting, to be attended by 14 political leaders, doesn’t have any fixed agenda but Kashmir leaders have indicated that they will press for restoration of Article 370 and full statehood.
“We will put our point of view in the meeting tomorrow. The biggest thing what has been taken away from us should be given back to us,” said Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, Communist Party of India leader and spokesperson for the five-party alliance, People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)
In a meeting on Tuesday, PAGD decided to attend the meeting to be held at the PM’s residence at 3pm. All participants have been asked to submit negative Covid reports.
Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti arrived in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah will fly to the Capital on Thursday morning.
{{/usCountry}}Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti arrived in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah will fly to the Capital on Thursday morning.
{{/usCountry}}”Farooq Abdullah will travel to Delhi on Thursday for the meeting. Omar Abdullah is already in national capital and he is also scheduled to attend the meeting,” said NC spokesman Imran Nabi.
Tarigami, Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Lone, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari. former deputy chief minister Muzuffar Beig, Congress J&K president Ghulam Ahmad Mir and former J&K deputy chief minister Tarachand also reached Delhi on Wednesday. “We (Congress leaders) will ask for agenda for this important meeting and then put our point of view before the PM,” said J&K Congress president, Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief and former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh also arrived in Delhi.
The meeting signals the restarting of political engagement between mainstream Kashmiri parties and the Centre, which in August 2019 voided Articles 370 and 35A that bestowed special status to Jammu and Kashmir and privileges to its residents, and split the state into two Union territories. All mainstream political leaders were detained, internet and phone connections were snapped and curfew-like restrictions were imposed in the Valley for months.
When the leaders were released in 2020, they came together as PAGD and adopted a resolution to demand the region’s full statehood and special status. Current PAGD members include the NC, PDP, CPI-M, J&K Awami National Conference, and the J&K People’s Movement.
Politicians in the Valley remain bitterly opposed to J&K’s bifurcation and revocation of Article 370. In the past, PAGD members have clashed with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which backed the scrapping of special status.
Despite the frenetic political activity in Delhi, the mood in Srinagar was subdued with little expectation. “Common Kashmiris have very little expectation from the meeting. Many are not even interested,” said Abdul Gani, a retired government employee of Srinagar.
He believed that the calling of a meeting by the PM was a ‘routine political exercise’ to break the monotony after the decisions of August 2019.
“It is a reconciliatory measure to move forward the political process so that elections are held. The decisions over special status are cast in stone. We don’t expect any change in that,” he said.
Waseem Ahmad, a resident of south Kashmir’s Pulwama, said that he does not expect much to change.
“After the changes to special status, the people at Centre tried to raise a political alternative in J&K and failed. Now they have realised that they cannot do away with NC and PDP which are cadre based parties,” he said.
“The demands of the PAGD seeking return of Article 370 will now be just political rhetoric with no sincerity,” said Bilal Ahmad, a teacher of north Kashmir’s Baramulla.
Political analyst Professor Noor Ahmad Baba said that Kashmiris doubt the intentions of the central government and mainstream Valley politicians. “The experiences of people in Kashmir prompt them to doubt the centre as well as local political leaders,” he said.
J&K BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur said “The BJP delegation comprises of state president Ravinder Raina, Kavinder Gupta and Nirmal Singh.”They will speak about delimitation and elections in the UT.”