New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed "deep pain" over the prevailing situation in Jammu & Kashmir and emphasised upon the coexistence of development and dialogue to find a lasting solution to the J&K problem, within the framework of the Constitution.
Modi, during his 75-minute meeting with a delegation of J&K opposition leaders comprising National Conference chief Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Ahmed Mir of Congress and M Y Tarigami of CPM, among others, said that "those who lost their lives during recent disturbances were part of us, our nation...whether the lives lost are of our youth, security personnel or police, it distresses us".
"He emphasized that there has to be dialogue and we need to find a permanent and lasting solution to the problem within the framework of the Constitution," said a PMO release issued after the meeting.
Asked to elaborate on contours of such a dialogue, a senior government functionary explained that unlike the popular perception where dialogue meant sitting across the table with a few separatist leaders, the Modi government sought to talk to all, be it national political parties, state government brass or opposition leaders from J&K.
"The dialogue is already underway. It is as part of our initiative to engage all stakeholders in J&K that an all-party meeting was held over a week ago and now the opposition leaders from the state have met PM. We plan to take along the people of J&K as well as their representatives from various walks of life," the functionary said but indicated that the prospects of involving separatists in this dialogue were minimal.
On its part, the J&K opposition leaders appealed to the PM to adopt a political approach for resolving the crisis in J&K and ensure that the "mistakes" of the past are not repeated.
Emerging from the meeting, Abdullah told reporters that the Prime Minister listened to "us with patience and accepted our memorandum". Modi even asked all members of the delegation to call him anytime to discuss J&K-related issues. Many delegates were "overwhelmed" when the PM asked them to stay back till he finished attending an Afghanistan event, to resume the discussion.
"Grateful to Modiji for taking out the time to receive the delegation from J&K and giving us a patient hearing beyond allotted time," Abdullah tweeted after the meeting.
He told reporters that the delegation emphasised that J&K issue is more political in nature. "Time and again such situations do arise but if we are unable to find a political solution to it, we will be repeating our mistakes again and again," he said.
Abdullah said the PM agreed that development alone was not an answer to the crisis. According to Union minister of state for PMO Jitendra Singh, the prime minister conveyed to the delegation the need to rise above politics and work towards interests of the J&K people.
Asked to comment on finance minister Arun Jaitley's statement in Jammu on Sunday that stone-pelters were no "satyagrahis but aggressors", Abdullah said "I do not wish to say anything on this as the PM told us nothing like this.
"Let's not play politics over Jammu and Kashmir,"
Modi, during his 75-minute meeting with a delegation of J&K opposition leaders comprising National Conference chief Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Ahmed Mir of Congress and M Y Tarigami of CPM, among others, said that "those who lost their lives during recent disturbances were part of us, our nation...whether the lives lost are of our youth, security personnel or police, it distresses us".
"He emphasized that there has to be dialogue and we need to find a permanent and lasting solution to the problem within the framework of the Constitution," said a PMO release issued after the meeting.
Asked to elaborate on contours of such a dialogue, a senior government functionary explained that unlike the popular perception where dialogue meant sitting across the table with a few separatist leaders, the Modi government sought to talk to all, be it national political parties, state government brass or opposition leaders from J&K.
"The dialogue is already underway. It is as part of our initiative to engage all stakeholders in J&K that an all-party meeting was held over a week ago and now the opposition leaders from the state have met PM. We plan to take along the people of J&K as well as their representatives from various walks of life," the functionary said but indicated that the prospects of involving separatists in this dialogue were minimal.
On its part, the J&K opposition leaders appealed to the PM to adopt a political approach for resolving the crisis in J&K and ensure that the "mistakes" of the past are not repeated.
Emerging from the meeting, Abdullah told reporters that the Prime Minister listened to "us with patience and accepted our memorandum". Modi even asked all members of the delegation to call him anytime to discuss J&K-related issues. Many delegates were "overwhelmed" when the PM asked them to stay back till he finished attending an Afghanistan event, to resume the discussion.
"Grateful to Modiji for taking out the time to receive the delegation from J&K and giving us a patient hearing beyond allotted time," Abdullah tweeted after the meeting.
He told reporters that the delegation emphasised that J&K issue is more political in nature. "Time and again such situations do arise but if we are unable to find a political solution to it, we will be repeating our mistakes again and again," he said.
Abdullah said the PM agreed that development alone was not an answer to the crisis. According to Union minister of state for PMO Jitendra Singh, the prime minister conveyed to the delegation the need to rise above politics and work towards interests of the J&K people.
Asked to comment on finance minister Arun Jaitley's statement in Jammu on Sunday that stone-pelters were no "satyagrahis but aggressors", Abdullah said "I do not wish to say anything on this as the PM told us nothing like this.
"Let's not play politics over Jammu and Kashmir,"