Kashmir conference likely soon as opposition leaders back Yashwant Sinha

Farooq Abdullah urges PM to look his own partyman's efforts, says Kashmiris are not Pakistanis

A non-governmental proposal to hold a conference to discuss the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday received a shot in the arm when it found support from former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

During his half an hour meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, Abdullah requested Modi to look at the proposed initiative by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha, supported by opposition parties and leaders, including Janata Dal (United)'s Sharad Yadav and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), as a means to reach out to the people of Kashmir.

On Tuesday, Sinha, Yadav and CPI (M) Chief Sitaram Yechury also reached out to the Congress party to be a part of the initiative to hold a conference on J&K. After his meeting with the PM, Abdullah later met some of these leaders.

According to Opposition sources, apart from Sinha and Yadav, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Yechury are likely to send a joint invite for this conference on J&K. "The plan is to invite intellectuals, experts on Kashmir and political leaders to the conference with the objective of sending a message to the people of the state that rest of India is concerned about them and cares for them," Yadav told Business Standard.

In his meeting with Modi, Abdullah told the PM that the Kashmir Valley was on the brink, and the unrest could get "out of hand" if not urgently addressed politically.

"Please do not think all of us are Pakistanis," he told the PM, according to a source close to Abdullah. The National Conference leader said to the PM that Kashmiris do not wish to join Pakistan but the people have their grievances, which the Centre should look at through a political process and by reaching out to the stakeholders.

Abdullah, who was recently elected to the Lok Sabha from Srinagar in a by-poll, reminded the PM of the initiatives taken on the Kashmir issue during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee as well as the subsequent Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) governments, and to let these J&K assembly resolutions and reports of committees and group of interlocutors as the basis for the Centre's outreach to the people of Kashmir.

CPI (M)'s Central Committee at its meeting on April 21 had expressed "grave concern" at the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and had "proposed to hold a convention of likeminded political forces, intellectuals and social movements on the Kashmir situation."