In the wake of continued bloodletting in Jammu & Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has called for an all-party meeting to discuss the grim situation in the state.
“J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has called for an All Party Meeting tomorrow amid a fresh spike in incidents of violence in Kashmir,” tweeted Reshi Suri, media consultant of Mufti.
Mufti on Tuesday met Governor N.N. Vohra at the Raj Bhavan to discuss issues regarding anti-militancy operations, increased civilian deaths, and the death of a tourist in stone pelting incident on Monday. She also discussed the radicalisation among educated youth.
“The governor spoke to Mehbooba Mufti about certain issues relating to Prime Minister Modi’s forthcoming visits to Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu regions,” an official spokesman said.
Mufti has made repeated pleas to the Union government and her ally in the state, the BJP, for a dialogue on Kashmir to find solutions to end the continued violence and chaos.
“Without a sustained, meaningful dialogue and outreach not just for the government but from the entire country, J&K will get pushed deeper into this vortex of gloom,'' she tweeted after a young tourist died of injuries he sustained when a tourist bus was attacked at Narbal on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday. ''My deepest condolences to the deceased’s family and my prayers go out to the girl who was injured in the same incident.”
Mufti has not been able to convince the BJP to soften its militaristic approach in Kashmir.
The BJP is not on the same page with the PDP about addressing the Kashmir issue through dialogue.
In fact, the rise of the saffron party in the state has ripped open communal fault lines.
There are many who agree with Congress leader and former Union minister P. Chidambaram that the BJP-PDP alliance is a grave provocation to the people of the valley. He asked Mufti to quit the alliance and go back to the people. ''Mehbooba Mufti should break her party's unholy and opportunistic coalition with the BJP. And go back to the philosophy of her father,'' he tweeted. ''Share J&K CM's concern that statesmanship required to get J&K out of the vicious cycle of killings. Sad that she does not see that her coalition government is the core of the problem.''
The PDP leadership, sources said, is worried about growing number of militant and civilian killings as the party has lost the moral high ground it once enjoyed on civilian killings in Kashmir.
Sources said Mufti and other leaders are mindful that continued bloodletting in Kashmir will not only cost it dear in the next elections, but could possibly make the survival of the party difficult in the long run.