Manmohan asks political parties to activate youth wings for reaching out to the young in the state
Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday tried to establish direct connect with the agitating youth of Kashmir. In an all-party meeting, the prime minister (PM) asked all sides to reach out to the Kashmiris, while maintaining that dialogue will be possible only if peace returns to the Valley.
The PM gave a detailed account of the steps taken by his UPA government for combating the situation in Kashmir. He made fresh offers to assuage the feelings of the youth, including employment generation.
The meeting was held amid the spectre of boycott — which the People’s Democratic Party of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed eventually did — but last-minute efforts, especially by National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah, led to the BJP deciding against abstention.
“We had decided to boycott the meeting as such gatherings invariably turn out to be Kashmir-centric,” the BJP’s former J&K unit chief Ashok Khajuria said. “But we changed our stand after consultations with the party high command,”
The PM offered to set up an expert group headed by economist C Rangarajan to formulate an employment plan in the state.
The group, which will including N Narayana Murthy, Tarun Das, P Nanda Kumar and Shaqueel Qalander, will submit its report in three months.
In what is perceived to be an act of tightrope walking, the PM praised the security forces for performing an “extremely challenging” task in difficult circumstances. He asked the political parties to activate their youth wings for reaching out to the Kashmiri youth. While all the parties criticised Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah’s style of functioning, they nevertheless came out in support of him, barring the BSP and Panthers Party.
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