All-party delegation to Kashmir 40 days too late: Azad

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said that the government's decision to send an all-party delegation to Kashmir has come 40 days too late, and added that matters would not have come to such a pass if the decision had been taken earlier.

"We have made this demand on July 18. It's been 40 days now. Perhaps things would not have come to such a pass if the government had taken this decision earlier," Azad told IANS.

Nevertheless, Azad, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, welcomed the move.

"It is good that the government finally accepted our demand (to send an all-party delegation to Kashmir). It will definitely help defuse the situation," he said.

Azad said that an all-party delegation would signify that "all the people of India are meeting the people of Kashmir through their representatives".

He, however, refused to comment on whether the delegation would also meet the Hurriyat leadership in the Valley.

"It is for the delegation members and for the central and state governments to decide whom they should meet," he said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to lead an all-party team to Srinagar on September 4 to find a way out of the ongoing unrest in the Valley where over 70 people have died in clashes with security forces since July 9.

--IANS

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