Kashmir Media Watch (KMW) is an electronic newspaper cum news agency

Monday, July 12, 2010

PDP says no to PM, HM for all-party meet called by Omar

Srinagar, Jul 12 (KMW): Demanding intervention at the highest level, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti today reiterated that she will not attend the all-party meeting (APM) called by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to discuss the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley.
''I have told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to excuse me when he called me yesterday to attend the all-party meet in Srinagar tomorrow,'' Ms Mehbooba told reporters at her residence last yesterday.

''I have also conveyed the same to the Home Minister who also called me yesterday,'' she said.

''I have great regard for Dr Singh and I am thankful to him for calling me. But I have informed him that please excuse me for this meeting,'' she said.

The PDP and National Panthers Party (NPP) have already announced to skip the meeting.

Mr Abdullah had urged Ms Mufti and NPP chief Prof Bhim Singh besides other invitees to attend the meeting in the interest of restoring peace in the valley.

''It was very painful to convey my inability to attend the meeting to Dr Singh as I have very great regard for him,'' she said and added that it was very kind of the Prime Minister to call me.

She said all the decisions, including deployment of Army, has already been taken by the government without consulting anybody so there was no purpose to call an all-party meet now.

She alleged that the government was trying to hide its ''failures'' by convening such a meeting after taking all the decisions that ''he should not have taken''.

The PDP chief said the meeting is just a ''damage control exercise'' aimed to hoodwink the international community.

She alleged that the government in the state has lost its credibility among the people of the Jammu and Kashmir.

''After failing to take everybody into confidence initially when we asked for summing a special session of the Legislative Assembly after the killing of three people at Machil in a fake encounter, Mr Abdullah now wants the Prime Minister to step in and resolve the crisis,'' she said.

She had recently said that the national mainstream parties are almost irrelevant under the present situation and wants intervention at Prime Minister's level to restore peace in the state.

The PDP president said, ''The situation in Kashmir is ''very bad and it was almost impossible to do anything at the state government level.'' The government had used excessive force to suppress the anger of the people, mostly youths, she said.

The Chief Minister has called an all-party meeting tomorrow to discuss the prevailing situation in the Kashmir valley where the Army was called in to stage flag marches in some curfew-bound areas.

The Chief Minister reacting to Ms Mehbooba's allegation that he did not call the meeting before the Army deployment, said there was no time to convene such a meeting when situation demands immediate action.

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