Srinagar, July 11 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and urged her party to attend the all-party meeting called Monday by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Yes, the prime minister called her Saturday night and urged her to reconsider her party’s decision not to attend the meeting,’ a close aide of Mehbooba told IANS.
The aide said the call from Manmohan Singh came after Mehbooba in a TV programme snubbed the chief minister’s offer of talks saying the party wanted the prime minister to intervene to resolve the Kashmir problem.
He said the PDP ‘as of now’ was sticking to its decision of not attending the meeting.
‘However, the president is holding a press conference later today where she will make the party’s stand clear,’ he said.
On Mehbooba’s statement that she wanted the prime minister to intervene, he explained saying: ‘I think that they have misunderstood the PDP president. She didn’t say that the party will attened the meeting only after Manmohan Singh calls. She wants the prime minister to hold a meeting with all stake-holders and restart the halted dialogue process in Kashmir.’
Abdullah has called an all-party meeting on Monday to discuss the volatile situation in the state where the army was called in to stage marches in curfew-bound towns to restore law and order following violent protests over civilian killings in the valley.
Abdullah has said the meeting was called to ‘seek a common approach’ to the problem in the state.
