Violence will continue as long as there is PDP-BJP govt: Cong

The Congress Party on Monday claimed that violence would continue in Jammu and Kashmir as long as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government is in power in the state.

"As long as there will be PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, it is not possible to restore peace in the valley," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI.

Meanwhile, holding Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's wrong policies responsible for the prevailing unrest in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir activist Sushil Pandit said the state administration has miserably failed in maintaining the law and order as it has zero credibility.

"Kashmir is going from bad to worse. The state administration is unable to control it... The state administration not only has zero credibility, it had to call of polling in the by-election and it has no clue how to fight the fire. The state has no clue how to fight this fire," he told ANI.

Pandit also took a dig at Mehbooba's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"It seems she is meeting the Prime minister to use this opportunity for some more consensus as sops for the people of Kashmir. Nobody should be taken in by her logic because all this disruption is not because of certain sops or certain concessions. This is amount to pouring oil to fire," he added.

After meeting the Prime Minister at his official 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence in the national capital this morning, Mufti demanded that the ruling dispensation at the Centre must follow the footsteps of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and reach out to the disillusioned and angry youth so as to restore a peaceful atmosphere for governance.

"We must start from where Vajpayee ji left... Modi ji has repeatedly said that he would follow the footsteps of Vajpayee ji, whose policy was of reconciliation, not confrontation. There is no option but to talk," she asserted.

The Chief Minister also said that she discussed the recent by-poll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, which witnessed large-scale violence and the lowest turnout ever.

"I discussed the issue of less voting percentage in the recent elections and security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with Prime Minister Modi," she said.

The meeting comes in the wake of recent incidents of violence, including the clashes between security forces and civilians during the Srinagar by-elections.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier on Sunday urged all the Chief Ministers to take care of the students from Jammu and Kashmir in their respective states. His assertion came after Mehbooba raised the issue following assault of six Kashmiri students of Mewar University in Rajasthan by some locals.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of several video clips surfacing in recent times, purportedly showing human rights abuses by the security forces.