SRINAGAR: A meeting of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) will take place on June 29 in Srinagar.
The meeting seems significant as it comes at a time when it appears that differences have emerged in the Gupkar alliance as Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that no other party except Congress made a strong presentation by putting all the points at an all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with leaders of the union territory, adding that “full statehood is what we are aiming.”
Several parties, including the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Conference and CPI(M), formed the PAGD for the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Briefing media persons on Sunday, Mir had said, “On June 24, Prime Minister called a meeting with 14 leaders of Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, they (the central government) do not reveal any agenda. But the Congress Party apprised the Prime Minister of the situation in Kashmir from August 5, 2019, till today.
We spoke about how the self-made decision of the Centre impacted Jammu and Kashmir. The way Congress Party made a presentation in the meeting with an agenda, preparation and homework, none of the other parties came to meeting had such thought process and preparation.” He further emphasised the Congress Party’s stand is to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir with a Constitutional guarantee. The Congress leader’s statement comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir that the Union government favours holding assembly elections and restoring its statehood once the delimitation exercise is over.
On June 24, Prime Minister Modi chaired the all-party meeting which was attended by 14 prominent leaders from the Union Territory. Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Home Secretary also attended the meeting. Earlier in March this year, the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir, which was set up in March 2020 to redraw the parliamentary and assemblies constituencies, got a one-year extension from the Central government.
This was the first high-level interaction between the Centre and political leadership mainly from Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the state was bifurcated into two union territories
