On a day an all-party delegation, led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, arrived in Jammu and Kashmir for a two-day visit, separatists yesterday rejected Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s invitation for a meeting with the team, terming such a measure “deceitful”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh chairs a meeting of an all-party delegation seeking to restore peace in the Valley, with the J&K government, in Srinagar yesterday. Pic/PTI
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Srinagar: On a day an all-party delegation, led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, arrived in Jammu and Kashmir for a two-day visit, separatists yesterday rejected Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s invitation for a meeting with the team, terming such a measure “deceitful”. They claimed that the meeting cannot be an alternative to a “transparent agenda-based dialogue to address the core issue”.
A day after Mufti invited separatists for talks in her capacity as PDP chief, separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (from separate Hurriyat Conference factions) and Yasin Malik (JKLF) issued a statement, rubbishing her offer.
Reaching out
Despite the rejection, four opposition MPs from the delegation — CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and RJD’s Jay Prakash Narayan — reached out to the separatists. But separatist leaders rebuffed the gesture, with Geelani even refusing to meet them.
At the meeting earlier, the team of 26 MPs discussed the security situation in the Valley. The team is expected to interact with a cross-section of people to restore peace.
Rebuild credibility: Omar
Responding to Mufti’s overture, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted that she should have released the detained Hurriyat leaders (Farooq, Malik and Geelani) if she was serious about the talks. He told the all-party team that the Centre has lost credibility as there has hardly been any follow-up after similar visits in the past.
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