Trip to hospital, shrine for Kashmir team today

The all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will on Tuesday visit Tangmarg, which witnessed incidents of arson recently, hospitals in Srinagar to meet those injured during clashes, and the Hazratbal shrine.

The high-level delegation, which on Monday 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 Quran in the United States.

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

The People's Democratic Party had on Monday 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 Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, 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.