Amid the continuing unrest in Jammu & Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Valley, which has been under curfew for past 48 days. This is the first meeting between the Prime Minister and Mehbooba after the unrest broke in the Valley on July 8.
The meeting follows a clear message from the Centre to the Chief Minister to control the growing unrest in the State. During the meet, the two leaders are expected to discuss a visit by an all-party Parliamentary delegation to the troubled State in the first week of September to meet a cross section of people and assess the ground situation there.
The move to send the delegation comes after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Srinagar on Thursday that he had asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to make preparation for the visit.
The facilitation of the all party delegation to the troubled State is considered to be an attempt by the Government to bring the political parties on board the process initiated to bring normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Centre has reportedly conveyed Mehbooba that there was a need for putting an end to the cycle of violence which has claimed 67 lives so far in the protest, official sources said.
Mehbooba is facing flak for not being able to control the violence as the Centre has made it clear that law and order was a state subject.
Earlier this week, Modi had a meeting with a delegation of Opposition parties from the State led by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
After that meeting, for the first time, Modi had expressed his “deep concern and pain” over the situation in the Valley and asked all political parties to work together to find a “permanent and lasting” solution to problems in the State.
Mehbooba had strongly defended security forces action on Thursday during a Press conference and had said “People came on streets, we imposed curfew. Did the children go to Army camps to buy toffees (candy)IJ Was the 15-year-old boy, who attacked the police station at Damhal Hanjipora (in south Kashmir), going there to get milk...”