Omar Abdullah in a file photo. PTI
New Delhi: Opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir, led by Omar Abdullah, today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and appealed that a political approach needed to be adopted for resolving the present crisis in the Valley and for ensuring that “mistakes” of the past were not repeated.
Abdullah said that the prime minister listened to “us with patience and accepted our memorandum” after a 75-minute-long meeting.
The 46-year-old working president of the National Conference party said that they requested Prime Minister Modi to find a political solution to the Kashmir issue so that the government could ensure lasting peace in the state and the country.
“We talked about the same thing that we have been talking with other leaders ever since we arrived in Delhi, that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in light of the present crisis, needs to be understood correctly after which a solution is required,” Abdullah told reporters.
“We emphasised that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is more of political in nature. Time and again such situations do arise but if we are unable to find a political solution to it, we will be repeating our mistakes again and again,” he said.
He said the prime minister agreed with the delegation on the fact that development alone was not an answer to the crisis.
“The prime minister told us in categorical terms that development alone will not resolve this problem,” he said and refused to draw any conclusion from that.
“I am not going to put words into the Prime Minister’s mouth nor am I going to draw further meaning from what he said,” Abdullah said.
The delegation apprised the prime minister of the ground situation in the Valley that has remained under curfew for last 45 days.
Besides Abdullah, the delegation – comprising of a seven-member team of state Congress led by its PCC chief G.A. Mir, CPM MLA M.Y. Tarigami and an eight-member team of main opposition National Conference, including its provincial chiefs Nasir Wani and Davinder Rana – has been camping in the national capital and meeting political leaders from the government and the opposition.
Asked about the statement made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Jammu yesterday that stone-pelters were no “satyagrahis but aggressors”, Omar said “I do not wish to say anything on this as the Prime Minister told us nothing like this.
“And more importantly, let’s not play politics over Jammu and Kashmir. We will get ample time to play political games later.”