SRINAGAR: Hours after former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti confirmed that she was invited on phone for the meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports appearing in media said Home Secretary has reached out to Jammu and Kashmir politicians.
Those approached include Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, G A Mir, Altaf Bukhari, M Y Tarigami and eight others. The meeting is scheduled at PM’s official residence on June 24.
Union Home Secretary reaches out to J-K leaders, including Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, for attending meet at PM residence on June 24
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 19, 2021
As per reports, the Union Home Secretary AK Bhalla has personally invited all prominent political leaders K through telephone. All the 14 politicians invited to the meeting will have to present a Covid-19 negative certificate.
The Centre’s move is also seen as the first major step towards a visible outreach. This is for the first time after August 5, 2019, when most of them were sent to jail ahead of the reading down of Article 370. The completion of the delimitation process in the former state is expected to be reviewed during the June 24 meeting.
With these developments, Mehbooba Mufti’s maternal uncle Sartaj Madani was today released from preventive custody, which is being viewed as a confidence-building step.
Meanwhile, Apni Party will be holding a meeting to discuss the invitation on June 21 at 4 pm. PAGD is also following the suit but the details of the meeting are not immediately available.
