Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 4: A day after inviting separatist leaders for talks, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today pitched for unconditional dialogue with all stakeholders as she met the All Party Delegation and offered to help in this regard.
Mehbooba said she was committed to help initiate a “sustained and meaningful dialogue” within the State with political groups, irrespective of the ideological views and predilections of the political groups.
“Met the All Party Delegation at S.K.I.C.C today and pitched for unconditional talks with all stakeholders,” Mehbooba wrote in a Facebook post. Earlier, she refused to talk to reporters at the venue of the meeting.
The Chief Minister said she reiterated the commitment to catalyze the reconciliation and confidence building within the State and across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Also committed to help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections,” Mehbooba said.
“This dialogue seeks to build a broad-based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K,” she added.
Mehbooba, in her capacity as PDP president, yesterday had written a letter to separatist leaders, appealing them to engage with the All Party Delegation for finding a solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the separatists turned down the invitation saying the delegation had not spelled out a mandate.
Sources said in her nearly an hour long meeting with the All Party Delegation headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Mehbooba elaborated in detail the unrest and steps taken by her Government to contain it. She said the present unrest has no comparison with 2008 and 2010 situation as the protests on July 9 this year had started after the killing of three militants while in 2010 civilians had been killed, leading to the protests.
The Chief Minister was reported to have stressed for support of all political parties in tackling the unrest saying all parties and individuals have a role to play to win over the children and youth, who were indulging in stone pelting. She reiterated that certain “vested interests” were instigating the youth and even children to attack police stations and security camps, leading to casualties.
Welcoming the members of All Party Delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba hoped that their visit would set the process of dialogue into motion as ultimately it were the talks which would address the Kashmir problem.
Mehbooba called for creating an institutionalised mechanism for dialogue and resolution of Kashmir issue.
She stressed the need for creating a new basis of legitimacy for the peace and resolution process to take shape.
“The need of the hour is to revive the reconciliation and resolution process through an institutionalized mechanism involving all the stakeholders,” she said and added that the challenge before the leadership of the State and the country is to insulate the process from the setbacks that have derailed it in the past.
“All of us are deeply concerned about the painful situation existing in Kashmir and a credible and meaningful political dialogue and resolution process has to be initiated to end the stalemate,” Mehbooba said and added that it is a welcome step that cutting across the party lines and political positions, the country’s political leadership has reached out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief Minister said that all the mainstream political parties and separatist leadership in the State voice the urges and aspirations of the people and seek a lasting resolution of the problems confronting Jammu and Kashmir.
“In the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, which is the basis of our Government formation with our alliance partners, BJP, it has been made clear that the State Government will create conditions to facilitate resolution of all issues and will help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all the stakeholders, including all political groups in J&K irrespective of their ideological views and predilections to build a broad based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K,” she said.
Mehbooba expressed the hope that the visit of the All Party Delegation will be the first step towards putting in place an institutionalized mechanism for the lasting resolution of the issue to make peace and stability a reality in the State and the region.
Earlier, the State’s Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu gave a detailed presentation regarding the political, economic and developmental challenges confronting J&K and a possible roadmap on how to pull the State out of the morass.
The State Government delegation which was headed by the Chief Minister also included Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, Minister for R&B, A R Veeri and Minister for Social Welfare, Sajjad Gani Lone.
Meanwhile, the All Party Delegation had an hour long meeting with Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan before the dinner in Srinagar in which the Governor briefed the delegation members on all aspects of the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir for the past 57 days.
Sources said the Governor gave detailed account of the situation, which started deteriorating after the killing of Burhan Wani on July 8.
Vohra hosted dinner for the delegation members at the Raj Bhawan.
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