New Delhi: All efforts have been made to belittle and derail the very purpose of the Kashmirmeet convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The meeting to be held on June 24, Thursday, is the first such major exercise since August 5, 2019 when the Article 370 was abrogated marking the end of special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
The Ladakh region has been taken out as a separate Union Territory and J&K was also turned into a UT.The Thursday's meeting could lay down the first steps for a road map to revert to statehood forJ&K.
As many as 14 leaders of eight political parties have been invited by the Centre and Union Home Minister Amit Shah may be also present among others.
The meeting will kick-start the political process in J&K especially the possibility of holding the Assembly elections might figure prominently. The completion of much talked about delimitation process and increasing of seven assembly seats in Jammu region is also likely to be discussed.
There is already a line being pushed that even after abrogation of the Article 370, the Jammu region continues to be neglected as nearly 90 per cent of jobs in recent past went to 'Kashmir valley' and so is about 80-85per cent of tourism budget.
The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir to redraw the parliamentary and assemblies constituencies is expected to end the exercise by March 2022.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 was notified by the government on August 9, 2019, providing that the number of seats in the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir shall be increased from 107 to 114.
The Kashmir valley region has 46 seats, the Jammu region has 37 seats. After delimitation, 7 more seats are likely to be added to the Hindu-dominated Jammu division.
Of these 24 seats fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and excluding these, the effective strength of the new Assembly now would be 90 as compared to 83 prior to August 2019.
PDP leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has said PM Modi should hold a dialogue with Pakistan for a resolution to the Kashmir conflict. BJP leaders and Kashmiri Pandit leaders have said Pakistan is not a stakeholder in 'internal matters' of India and thus PDP's stance was like playing a 'proxy' card on behalf of Islamabad.
Both PDP and National Conference leaders have said they stand firmly committed to revocation of Article 370.
ends
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