Kashmir Unrest: PM Narendra Modi to chair all party meet in parliament

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair first all party meeting on Kashmir unrest in parliament today. The meeting, to be held around noon, has been called with the agenda to evolve consensus among all parties on ways and means to deal with ongoing unrest in the Kashmir valley. 

The Kashmir unrest today entered day 35 and has claimed 56 lives while leaving over 6000 injured including several para-military and police personnel. 

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh would represent the Government in the meeting. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Malikaarjun Kharge would represent the main opposition party.

Of two main regional political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference has no presence in either House of the Parliament, while People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is coalition partner of BJP in J&K, could nominate veteran Parliamentarian Muzaffar Hussain Baig, party MP from Baramulla-Kupwara Lok Sabha seat, for the all party meet.

The PDP has four MPs—two each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha after the resignation of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

This is the first All Party Meeting on Kashmir after 2010 unrest in the Valley, which had led to appointment of three-member Interlocutors on J&K including Dileep Padgaonkar, Prof Radha Kumar and MM Ansari though their report never saw light of the day.

The meeting has been scheduled for 12 noon in the Parliament House tomorrow, which is also last day of Monsoon session of the Parliament.