PM requests Mehbooba to attend all-party meet

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spoken to PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and is understood to have impressed upon the need for the government and the opposition to be on the same side in Kashmir to tackle the current situation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spoken to PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and is understood to have impressed upon the need for the government and the opposition to be on the same side in Kashmir to tackle the current situation.

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Singh, who spoke to Mehbooba yesterday, also appealed to her to attend the all-party meeting convened by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday, official sources said.

Omar had yesterday renewed his appeal to PDP to attend the meet to discuss the present situation in the valley but the main opposition party has so far stuck to its decision to stay away.

Mehbooba had insisted last night that there was no point in attending the meeting as it will serve no purpose.

According to PDP sources, the Chief Minister wrote to Mehbooba that he was pained to hear about the decision of her party and that he would be "grateful" if she could join the deliberations. Omar also spoke on telephone to Mehbooba.

The invitation has been extended to all 12 recognised political parties and groups for the meeting. These were National Conference, Congress, PDP, BJP, Panthers Party, CPI-M, CPI, Peoples Democratic Forum, Democratic Party (Nationalist), Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Nationalist Congress Party.