NCP welcomes Centre's package for Kashmir; wants quick implementation

Welcoming the eight-point initiative announced by the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today demanded the immediate setting up of task forces for Jammu and Ladakh regions as proposed in the package.

"We welcome the initiative. Our demand is that the task forces proposed for Jammu and Ladakh should be immediately constituted so that developmental concerns of the regions and the restoration of peace and normalcy in the Valley can be addressed simultaneously," state party president and former minister Thakur Randhir Singh told reporters here.

The NCP leader stressed that while reviewing deployment of security forces in Srinagar city and other towns of the Valley, security concerns -- both present and those likely to arise in future -- should be taken into account.