Manmohan Singh to lead Congress team to J&K next month

Members of Congress' policy planning group on Kashmir, led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will visit Jammu and Kashmir next month to assess the present political scenario in the state and meet other "like-minded opposition leaders".

Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that the team will visit Jammu on September 10 and Kashmir on September 16. The team will decide the dates for visiting Ladakh after visiting Kashmir, he added.

The party's policy planning group on Kashmir includes senior leaders like P. Chidambaram, Karan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni. It also includes Mir, CLP leader Nawang Rigzin Jora, the state unit's senior Vice-President Shyam Lal Sharma and former MP Tariq Hameed Karra.

The group was set up in April this year in the wake of party's concern on the prevailing situation in the state and its handling by the PDP-BJP government.

Mir said members of the team have met thrice in Delhi.

"During our last meeting we requested the central leadership that they should visit all the three regions in the state - Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh," Mir told IANS.

"They will assess the present political scenario in the state and possibly they will meet other like-minded opposition leaders, individuals and the groups as well," he added.

Asked about the possibility of meeting Hurriyat leaders, Mir said no group or individual has been invited.

"But, it is open. Anybody who wants to meet them (the team), specially from the mainstream opposition and other socio-cultural groups can do so."

--IANS

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