All-party team to visit Tangmarg, city hospitals in Kashmir

The all-party delegation will today visit Tangmarg, which witnessed incidents of arson recently, hospitals in the city to meet those injured during clashes, and the Hazratbal shrine.

The high-level delegation led by Union home minister P Chidambaram, which yesterday held discussions with various shades of opinion including the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, will form three groups.

One of the groups will visit Tangmarg to make an on-the-spot assessment of the September 13 incidents of arson in which a Missionary school and several government buildings were set ablaze by a mob.

Five persons were killed in this incident after police had to fire at the unruly crowd, who were protesting against the alleged desecration of Holy Koran in the United States.

The second group will visit hospitals in the city to meet those injured in clashes with security forces.

The PDP had yesterday asked the all-party delegation to visit the affected areas, including hospitals and district headquarters, to get a first hand account of the sufferings of the people.

The third group will pay obeisance at the Hazratbal Shrine.

The 42-member delegation that includes BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and Gurudas Dasgupta are in the state to assess the ground situation against the backdrop of unabated unrest that has claimed over 100 lives in the last three months.