Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 1: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has finalized scheduled of two-day visit of All Party Delegation (APD) to Jammu and Kashmir on September 4 and 5, keeping Jammu in the itinerary, which had earlier been given a miss. The delegation will also meet Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Meanwhile, Congress today finalized its two remaining names for inclusion in the delegation. They included Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Malikarjun Kharge and AICC (I) general secretary, Incharge Jammu and Kashmir, Ambika Soni. The name of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, had already been approved by the party high command.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh headed All Party Delegation will reach Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, at 10 am on September 4 by a special plane. Soon after their arrival, the delegation will meet Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and take her assessment of the situation prevailing in the entire Kashmir valley, which has been hit hard by the unrest since July 8 after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
The All Party Delegation’s meeting with the Chief Minister would last half an hour.
Thereafter, the delegation will start meeting delegations of all political parties, social, religious, trade and youth organizations apart from the individuals and continue the meetings till the evening.
Late in the evening, the All Party Delegation will meet Governor N N Vohra and have detailed inter-action with him on his perception of the situation.
Sources said the delegation members will elicit opinion of the Governor and the Chief Minister behind Kashmir unrest and steps the Centre and State Governments could take for restoration of peace and normalcy in the Valley.
While venue of the All Party Delegation’s stay in Srinagar is being finalized though it could be Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), in Jammu, the delegation will stay at the Convention Centre, Canal Road.
On September 5, the All Party Delegation will again start meeting the delegations in Srinagar from 9 am. The meetings will continue till 12 noon.
It will reach Jammu around 1 pm and will meet some individuals over lunch till 2 pm. The delegation will meet all political parties and other organizations till 5 pm before returning to the Union capital.
Sources said the senior BJP leader of Jammu and Kashmir based in New Delhi prevailed upon the Union Home Ministry to keep Jammu in itinerary of the All Party Delegation’s visit on the ground that skipping Jammu and spending both days in Srinagar, would have send wrong message in the region.
Earlier, the delegation’s tour was kept confined to Srinagar for both the days and the Government planned to airlift few Jammu delegations to the Valley for their meeting with the delegation.
However, following intervention of the BJP leader of J&K based in New Delhi, Jammu has been included in the visit of All Party Delegation.
The Home Ministry officials, who were in regular touch with civil administration of Jammu and Kashmir, have called upon them to send messages to all political parties, social, religious, trade, youth and other organizations, who want to meet the All Party Delegation and allocate them timing from 11 am to 5 pm on September 4 and 9 am to 12 noon on September 5 in Srinagar and in Jammu on September 5 from 2pm to 5 pm. The delegation will meet all political parties and organizations, which want to meet them and give their view point in writing or in verbal.
The Home Ministry, which has been the Nodal Agency for conducting visit of All Party Delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, has called upon the civil administration and other Government agencies in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that political parties and other organizations come to meet the delegation with written suggestions as it will save time of both (the delegation as well as the organization).
Accordingly, sources said, the civil administration has been asking the organizations, who have expressed their readiness to meet the All Party Delegation, to come with written memorandum carrying their demands and suggestions to address Kashmir problem.
The delegation will now return to New Delhi from Jammu around 6 pm for the Union capital on September 5.
Sources said the Union Home Ministry will brief the delegation members on September 3 about the visit to Jammu and Kashmir before the delegation finally leaves for Srinagar in the morning of September 4.
The delegation, headed by Rajnath Singh, will have Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State in the PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh as three official members of the Central Government. All three represent the BJP too. The Congress, the main opposition in the country, will also have three members-Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Malikarjun Kharge.
Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan will represent his Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
All other parties, barring Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati have submitted their names to the Home Ministry for joining the All Party Delegation. Both the parties, as exclusively reported by the Excelsior today, were unlikely to join the delegation but have extended their support to the Centre on taking initiatives to address Kashmir problem.
As reported, the delegation would meet all individuals, political parties and organizations, which are ready to meet them under the ambit of Constitution of India and Government’s formula of ‘Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat’.
However, any member was free to meet Hurriyat leaders or separatists in their individual capacity.
Other delegation members, as reported by the Excelsior today, included Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Tariq Anwar (Nationalist Congress Party), Badrudin Ajmal of All India United Democratic Front, Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United), D Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechury (CPM), Sanjay Raut and Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Prem Singh Chandumajra (Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal), Prof Saugata Roy (All India Trinamool Congress), Thota Narasimhan (Telegu Desam Party), Dileep Tirkey (Biju Janata Dal), Jitender Reddy (Telangana Raksha Samiti), Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Dushyant Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal), Suba Reddy (YSR-Congress), E Ahmad (Muslim League), NK Premchandran (RSP), P Venugopal (AIADMK), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Dharamveer Gandhi (AAP).
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