In a bid to accord high stature to the All-Party Delegation to Jammu and Kashmir early next week, the government on Friday decided that home minister P. Chidambaram would lead the team, which will comprise of representatives from all political parties, including Leaders of Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. In the meantime, PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed called up CPI leader A.B. Bardhan to impress upon him the need for a “serious effort” to resolve the current crisis.
The delegation, that will visit Kashmir on Monday and Jammu on Tuesday, will meet leaders of all sections of the political spectrum in the state to ascertain their views on ending the three-month long crisis in the state, which left 80 people dead.
Sources revealed that the government is sending written invitations to all sections of Kashmiri leadership, including the separatists, to meet the all-party delegation and share their views on the current spate of unrest in the state.
Among the separatists, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik are being short listed to be invited for meeting the delegation. “Around 30 invitations are being sent to various leaders and associations including that of teachers, shikaras and students for having audience with the delegation,” sources said.
A separate public notice will also be issued for general people to voice their concerns before the all-party delegation, the sources added. Though the forces in the state will facilitate the delegation’s meetings, if need be, the state government can consider partial lifting of curfew in the Valley, sources said.
Apart from Mr Chidambram, the Congress has decided to send parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal also as part of the delegation. Congress and BJP will have two representatives each, while the others will have single representation in the delegation. The Congress took the decision of its representation in the delegation at a high-level meeting chaired by AICC president Sonia Gandhi, where senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Chidambaram, A.K. Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prithviraj Chavan and Saifuddin Soz were present, the party sources said.
Mr Bansal, in the meantime, has written to various political parties to nominate representatives for the delegation. Responding to this, several parties including the BJP, Samajwadi Party, DMK, CPI(M), CPI, BSP, LJP, Trinamool Congress, NCP, RJD, Shiromani Akali Dal and RLD have confirmed their participation.
On its return from the state on Wednesday, the delegation will submit its report to the government and then the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will meet and decide on the future course to deal with the situation in the state. Though PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti postponed her scheduled meetings with Left parties and BSP, her father Mr Sayeed told the CPI leaders that the delegation should meet all-sections of political and social spectrum in the state.