M A I N   N E W S

Unite for Kashmir, parties urged
n All-party delegation to call on PM 
n Probe sought into death of civilians
Ehsan Fazili
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 12
The all-party meeting, called by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to find a way out of the prevailing tension, here today decided to send a delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his attention towards various problems faced by the state.

Yesterday, the opposition PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti, who had earlier turned down the Prime Minister’s advice to attend the meeting, had sought an “initiative from the highest level.”

Today’s meeting was attended by the heads of 10 political parties in the state while the PDP and the Panthers Party stayed away. The meeting was attended among others by National Conference president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and state PCC chief Saifuddin Soz -- the two coalition parties. It was held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) and continued for about four hours. This followed a meeting of the legislators of the coalition partners, convened by the Chief Minister.

The all-party meeting urged the state government to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of civilians during the recent trouble. “The meeting also urged the Government of India to strengthen the ongoing peace process through internal and external dialogue,” the six-point resolution passed at the meeting said.

The resolutions passed at the meeting were later read out by Omar. The parties also sought the cooperation of people irrespective of their political affiliations to help restore peace in the state. This, the meeting observed, was necessary in view of the sufferings of the people, huge economic losses and the adverse impact on the education of children.The meeting also expressed deep anguish at the loss of lives during the recent disturbances and appealed to the state government to consider relief in favour of the families of those killed in the violence. It also expressed dismay over the economic losses suffered by the people during the disturbances, particularly by small traders, vendors, daily wagers and other weaker sections of the society.

Other parties that were represented in the meeting included the CPI, the CPM, the BSP, the NCP and the SP.