‘Dealing with the issue through law-and-order mechanisms would continue to compound already grave situation’
Former chief minister and opposition National Conference president, Farooq Abdullah Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the current unrest in Kashmir valley politically.
Farooq, who was recently elected to Lok Sabha from the Srinagar seat, called on the prime minister and briefed him on the growing unrest in the Valley.
In the meeting, which lasted over half-an-hour, Farooq also urged the prime minister to consider the past official reports on Kashmir to seek a way out of the impasse.
He urged Modi to take urgent steps to address the Kashmir issue politically, saying it was not a mere law and order problem.
“Kashmiris are not Pakistanis. They have their own issues that need to addressed and they do not want to go with Pakistan,” Farooq is learnt to have told the PM.
“Dealing with the Kashmir issue solely through operational and law-and-order mechanisms would continue to compound the already grave situation.”
He also asked the PM to dust out reports, prepared by various official groups on Kashmir over past few years to find a solution to the present situation. He also reminded Modi that at the behest of the Vajpayee government, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly had discussed autonomy that was supported by two thirds of the House. There are also reports of five working groups constituted by the UPA-I regime under PM Manmohan Singh, as well as report of interlocutors.
A group of Opposition leaders also met here to discuss the situation in Kashmir issue. The parties including Left, JD (U) and others led by Congress are looking to formulate a structured initiative to address the issue. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury met JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav on Tuesday and along with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and also BJP leader Yashwant Sinha met here to discuss the plan of action.
