PDP to attend PM's all-party meeting on Kashmir

Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, which stayed away from the earlier all-party meetings on Kashmir crisis, on Tuesday said it will attend the meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to discuss the unrest in the Valley.

"Since the flights are not operating from Srinagar, we are not yet sure who is going to attend the meeting but PDP will definitely participate," party President Mehbooba Mufti told PTI.

The PDP had abstained from the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on July 12 describing the exercise as futile and claiming that the state government had nothing new to offer as it had exhausted all its options.

The largest opposition party in the state also did not attend the meeting between a delegation of the state level parties which met the Prime Minister last month.

Asked what brought about the change of heart, Mehbooba said, "It is not a change of heart ... we have been proved right as nothing has come out of the previous meeting at state level and the events and incidents that have taken place since."

She said although the meeting has been called a "little too late", a beginning has to be made for restoring normalcy in the Valley and also to address the larger issue of Kashmir.

Mehbooba expressed hope that positive decisions will be taken at the broadbased meeting on Wednesday, which will be implemented on ground.

Among major demands of the PDP is withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, release of political prisoners, end to human rights violations and immediate resumption of dialogue with Pakistan and the stakeholders within the state to address the external and internal dimensions of the Kashmir issue.