(This was originally posted in Hindustan Times)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold an all-party meeting on Jammu & Kashmir next week, an official in his office said and added the schedule for it has been tentatively fixed. The meeting will be the first such political engagement since the Centre stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status in August 2019 and split it into two Union territories.
A meeting Union home minister Amit Shah chaired in Delhi on Friday is seen to have been part of the preparations for the all-party meet even as the agenda for it was developmental issues and the current situation in Jammu & Kashmir.
Jammu & Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials attended Shah’s meeting on Friday. In a statement, the home ministry said Shah called all-around development and welfare of people of Jammu & Kashmir as the government’s top priority. It added Shah congratulated Sinha and his team for ensuring the Covid-19 vaccination drive has reached 76% of the target in the Union territory and 100% in its four districts.
The statement said Shah asked authorities to ensure the farmers in the region get the benefits of the central schemes. Jammu & Kashmir has been without an elected government since chief minister Mehbooba Mufti lost power when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led government in June 2018.
Mufti and two other former chief ministers were among hundreds of people arrested in the run-up to the nullification of the Constitution’s Article 370 that stripped Jammu & Kashmir of its special status. A communications blackout and a lockdown were also imposed to stem protests against the move. All the restrictions have since been removed. The first major electoral exercise–District Development Council polls–was held in the region as part of efforts to restart political activities in Jammu & Kashmir last year. All major political parties participated in the exercise. The parties have also shown willingness to engage with the Centre.
