Positive meeting

Most of the participants in the all party meeting held by the Prime Minister at New Delhi with the prominent political parties of Jammu and Kashmir have described it as a positive meeting.

The participants told the media that the Prime Minister’s response was reassuring and he insisted that Kashmir should become a region of peace rather than a conflict, while stressing for the early holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Prime Minister himself said that he wants there should be elections in Jammu and Kashmir soon and the elected government should take decisions. He himself agreed that bureaucratic government is not acceptable to people and bureaucratic government makes some mistakes which the elected government had to later correct. These utterances of the Prime Minister were quoted to the media by Omar Abdullah as he said that he is also optimistic that the ice has broken and more talks will take place.

Will there be restoration of statehood first as demanded by most of the participants including former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad or will the government of India go ahead for the elections after the delimitation commission exercise in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

These questions have no immediate answers as the Prime Minister has assured the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir that the statehood would be restored without giving any timeline for the same.