Top-level meet between Centre and J&K parties likely in Delhi: Report

SRINAGAR — For the first time after the Centre ended Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status, serious efforts are underway to enlist the mainstream political parties of the Union Territory (UT), particularly the Kashmir-based Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), to engage with New Delhi and meet with the ruling BJP’s top leadership in the coming weeks.

“People mandated by the Centre are in touch with the top leaders of the regional political parties of J&K for many weeks,” undisclosed top sources were quoted by The Hindu.

National Conference (NC), whose president Farooq Abdullah also heads the PAGD, is also part of the parleys, according to the report.

Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference and Altaf Bukhari of the J&K Apni Party may also be brought in to help make progress in Kashmir, where the situation has remained unchanged since the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to repeal all special provisions of Article 370.

The report said that even the attempt to depose and discredit established leaders in order to build a new generation of leaders in Kashmir has failed to produce the intended outcomes, as seen by the District Development Council elections last year.

According to The Hindu, if everything goes well, Jammu and Kashmir’s leaders would fly to New Delhi to meet with the BJP’s senior leadership. For the time being, the negotiations are likely to focus on the UT of Jammu and Kashmir regaining statehood status and holding an early Assembly election.

Since the BJP broke out of an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party in 2018, Jammu and Kashmir has been ruled by the Centre.