SRINAGAR

PDP President Mehbooba Mufti today visited her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's grave in Bijbehara in south Kashmir, hours before PDP legislature party's crucial meet which will decide on government formation in the state.
"Mehbooba visited her father's grave in Bijbehara to offer prayers just before she takes final call with regard to government formation with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir," a PDP leader said.
He said Mehbooba left for her hometown Bijbehara shortly before noon and would chair the legislature party meet in the evening at her official residence in Gupkar here.
The party is likely to make an announcement on the future of the alliance with BJP after the meeting.

The PDP-BJP coalition, after 10 months rule from March 2015 to January, ran into rough weather following the death of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7, after which the state came under Governor's rule.
Since then, the PDP leadership has sought confidence building measures and assurances on the implementation of the already agreed Agenda for Alliance from the Centre for forming the government again.

Hopes for government formation were revived after Mehbooba met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday.
(Reopens DEL55)
Mehbooba said there are lakhs of kanals of land under security forces, which they do not need now and should be returned for civilian use.

"If you return them to us, we will construct colleges, universities or parks so that people feel that our situation is improving as security forces were moving backwards and institutions and recreational facilities are being constructed there," she said.
The Chief Minister also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore in December.
"It was not an ordinary gesture that the Prime Minister of a country goes like that, but unfortunately then Pathankot happened and because of that the process was stalled.
The Chief Minister regretted that the political process started by her father and Vajpayee was not taken forward and held politicians responsible for stalling the peace process in the state.

"I firmly believe in what (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee said that you can change friends but not neighbours, so till the time both the countries do not keep good relations and improve the situation, neither they nor we can progress.
"Our Prime Minister had made a beginning by going to Lahore. That is the only way to remove poverty in both the countries and take Jammu and Kashmir out of the morass," she said, adding the fate of state and the country are intertwined.
"The political process started by Sayeed from opening routes to healing touch, somewhere that has stopped and only governance and development were talked about and to what limit that happened, that is again a matter of discussion.

"The roadmap by Mufti and Vajpayee that borders cannot be changed but made irrelevant so that people move across and there is trade. (Former PM) Manmohan Singh also took the process forward but the political process, the dialogue process, which started with L K Advani and the separatist leaders here, was not taken forward," she said.
"Some buses move from here, some from there, but the communication, banking facilities, exchange of students, doctors and civil society, which should have been there, so that we see what is there and what problems they have and they can come here, but that did not happen," she said, adding, "the politicians are responsible for it".

"The governments here, be it the NC-Congress government before ours, or the UPA in Delhi, we all are responsible for this that we think the situation has to be normalized whenever it is bad, but we forget once the situation is normal," she said.