PM Modi to meet J&K leaders in New Delhi today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir at his Delhi residence at 3 pm today.

This is the first meeting between Jammu and Kashmir mainstream parties and the prime minister after the Centre revoked the erstwhile state’s special status and carved two union territories out of it in August 2019.

With no agenda announced for the Thursday meeting, the JK leaders said they will go with an open mind.

Among the leaders who are scheduled to participate in the meeting are Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tara Chand and GA Mir; National Conference’s Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah; PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, J-K Apni Party’s Altaf Bukhari; BJP’s Ravinder Raina, Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta; CPI(M)’s M Y Tarigami; National Panthers Party’s Prof Bheem Singh; and Peoples Conference’s Sajad Gani Lone.

Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Home Secretary would also attend the meeting.

While reports suggest that the meeting has been called to “strengthen the political ties”, no fixed agenda seems to have been set and a freewheeling discussion is expected.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)