“The country’s political leadership must, without any further delay, reach out and engage all sections of the society including leaders of the Hurriyat Conference in a productive dialogue process to resolve the issue and make peace a reality in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mehbooba said.
She was interacting with the people in a south Kashmir village, where she had gone to offer condolences to the bereaved family of Mashooq Ahmad Sheikh who was killed in firing by security forces last month.
The Chief Minister said it is perhaps for the first time that the issue has been discussed in so many forums and at so many levels during the last two months, including Parliament.
“The need of the hour is to build on this larger political consensus within the country and initiate tangible measures to address the issue,” she said.
The chief minister said during her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month she suggested a three-pronged approach including talks with all sections of society, including the separatist leadership and also with Pakistan to put the reconciliation and resolution process back on track.
She expressed the hope that the upcoming visit of the all- party delegation to the state would facilitate the revival of the much-needed peace and resolution process.
The Chief Minister said the people have given the present government a mandate to voice their aspirations and seek resolution of the problems.
“The same has been reiterated in the government’s ‘agenda of alliance’ wherein 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.”
An all-party delegation is visiting the Kashmir Valley on Sunday. It is expected to have talks with cross sections of society there.
On the eve of the delegation’s Kashmir trip, the government said members were free to hold talks with anyone, including separatists, but urged them to speak in one voice during their two-day visit to the Valley, which has witnessed nearly two months of unending violence.
Opposition leaders made a strong case for holding talks with the separatist Hurriyat Conference, an immediate ban on the use of pellet guns and withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from civilian areas in Jammu and Kashmir.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a preparatory meeting with delegation members in New Delhi to discuss their engagements in Kashmir, official sources said.
Senior home ministry officials briefed the delegation and shared the roadmap for the visit that begins on Sunday.
The delegation of about 28 members includes leaders of over 20 political parties. These include Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Saturday’s meeting also took note of possible individuals and groups with whom the delegation may interact.
The sources said that a group of MPs from major opposition parties could also meet some groups separately.
“The government seemed to favour strongly that the all-party delegation not only show single-minded determination to bring peace in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Valley, but it also wants that the members of the delegation speak in one voice,” a source said.
At the meeting, the opposition parties supported the government move to send the delegation of elected MPs aiming to bring peace to the valley, which has been on the boil since the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani. At least 73 people, including two policemen, have been killed in the weeks of violence.
CPI-M leader Yechury suggested that confidence-building measures should be announced during the visit of the delegation.
The government has said while the members of the delegation are free to meet anyone, including separatists, delegation leader Rajnath Singh’s meetings will be “restricted” and he will meet only those who are ready to resolve all issues within the framework of the constitution.
Azad, also a former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, said his party and other constituents of the UPA want “dialogue with all stakeholders”.
“It is important the centre and the state government identify the stakeholders,” Azad said.
Yechury said the government “should invite Hurriyat for talks with the all-party delegation.”
He also insisted that the government must ban pellet guns and withdraw AFSPA from civilian areas as also adequate rehabilitation and compensation for the families of those who lost their lives in the recent violence.
The government representatives maintained that all efforts will be made to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement of taking the peace initiative to the trouble-hit state on the basis of “insaniyat, jamhuriyat and Kashmiriat”.
Rajnath Singh said the delegation would chalk out a list of suggestions and recommendations for the government based on their inputs from the meetings in Kashmir.
“On return, the delegation will meet in Delhi and submit the recommendations. Subsequent government actions will be based on their suggestions,” an official source said.
Surprisingly, two major Uttar Pradesh-based parties, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, said they would not nominate any party leader to go to the valley. The parties have, however, supported the move to send the delegation to Kashmir.
NCP leader Tariq Anwar also supported the Congress line and said that the dialogue should be open to all stakeholders.
NDA constituent, Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, said the “state needs a political framework. It is not merely a law and order issue”.
The delegation would also include central ministers Arun Jaitley, Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitendra Singh besides Ambika Soni (Congress), JD-U leader Sharad Yadav and D. Raja (CPI), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Anandrao Adsul, TDP’s Thota Narasimham, BJD leader Dilip Tirkey, AIUDF leader Badaruddin Ajmal and Muslim League’s E. Ahamed.
Jitendra Reddy of TRS, N.K. Premchandran (RSP), P. Venugopal (AIADMK), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Y.B. Subba (YSR-Congress), Jaiprakash Yadav (RJD), Dharamveer Gandhi (AAP) and Dushyant Chautala (RLD) are others in the delegation.
In a major move ahead of the all-party delegation’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the central government gave its nod to the use of alternative chilli-filled grenades instead of the highly controversial pellet guns.
According to sources, Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave his approval to the decision to replace the use of pellet guns with Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA).
The pellet guns, which have caused numerous blindings in Kashmir Valley in the ongoing unrest, have been widely criticised.
“The government today cleared the use of Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA). This would mean in rarest of occasions for mob control, henceforth there will be the use of chilli-filled grenades,” an official source said.
A sample lot of the PAVA grenades could be soon sent to Kashmir also, sources indicated.
Also called Nonivamide, the use of PAVA seeks to “temporarily incapacitate people” so that they can be detained easily prior to arrest or deterred from acts of violence toward law enforcement personnel and security forces, the source said.
“The decision to clear an alternative measure to use of pellet guns which assumed a major controversial issue in Kashmir fulfills Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s assurance given to the people of the state during his visit to J&K on August 25,” the source said.
The ‘PAVA shells’ were under trial for over a year at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research laboratory in Lucknow.
However, it is not yet clear whether there will be a total ban on the use of pellet guns, as security forces would favour retaining it for “rarest of rare cases”, sources said.
An expert committee headed by Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry T.V.S.N. Prasad examined the issue of the possible use of PAVA – chilli powder based grenades and favoured its use in its report submitted to the government.
Home Minister Singh has also told the Lok Sabha on July 21 during the monsoon session of Parliament that the pellet guns fired on protesters in Kashmir had killed one person and also resulted in eye injuries to 53 during the unrest that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8.
Official sources admitted that pellets were quite harmful as once the pellet goes inside an eye it shatters tissues and causes multiple damages to the eye.
BJP leaders have meanwhile maintained both inside and outside Parliament that pellet guns use was introduced by the Jammu and Kashmir police in 2010 when the National Conference was in power and Congress in Delhi. The pellet guns were put into use in 2010 when more than 100 people were killed during a series of stone-pelting protests in the Kashmir valley.
The expert committee headed by the Joint Secretary Prasad in its report had suggested that the government should ask the Tear Smoke Unit of the Border Security Force to produce at least 50,000 rounds of the shells as the first lot
Meanwhile, another youth was killed on Saturday during clashes with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, taking the toll to the ongoing violence to 74.
Basit Ahmad Ahangar, a resident of Vessu village in Anantnag, died during clashes between stone pelting mobs and security forces in the village, police sources said.
Reports said the youth had pellet injuries in his legs and a wound in the head when doctors at a local hospital where he had been taken for treatment declared him dead.
In another incident, mobs also torched the house of a ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) block president in Kund village of Kulgam district where Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had gone during the day to offer condolences to a father whose son had been killed during the clashes.
Mehbooba Mufti today wrote letters to separatist Hurriyat leaders inviting them to meet the all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arriving here on Sunday.
Reports said she wrote letters to Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Mehmood, Abbas Ansari, Nayeem Khan, Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami organisation and some others in this regard.
Separatists have already announced a boycott of any meeting with the delegation and also appealed to traders, industrialists, civil society members etc not to follow suit. (IANS)
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