Call urgent meeting of NIC on UP clashes: Sharad Yadav to PM

Janata Dal(U) chief Sharad Yadav today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene an urgent meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) in view of communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.
"The Prime Minister should convene an urgent meeting of the NIC for framing a response to the situation," he told reporters here.
Yadav said some elements were trying to polarise the situation in some parts of the country ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections.
"These things happen when polls are around the corner. We should frame a strategy that such incidents do not recur," he said.
The secular forces in the country should play their role in maintaining communal harmony, the JD(U) leader said.

On Zubin Mehta's concert in the Valley, Yadav said he should have played his orchestra in Delhi also.

Referring to separatist outfits, he said they should take to ballot for getting their grievances redressed as guns could not resolve any issue.
"They have the example of Nepal where Maoists ran a parallel government for 15 years. They opted for ballot and came to power. I do not see any reason why that cannot happen here," he said.
Yadav condemned the killing of four persons in CRPF firing in Shopian district.