New Delhi
Even as Union home minister Amit Shah assured of no alteration in demography of Jammu and Kashmir, the process to initiate political dialogue in the Valley started with the release of newly-formed Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari in September last year on health grounds.
“During our meeting with the home minister, we raised several misgivings about abrogation of Article 370, including domicile and land rights for people of Kashmir,” Bukhari told ET after meeting Shah on Sunday. Bukhari refu-ted allegations that his newly-formed party was a B team of BJP . The two sides took up 40 issues related to J&K. According to the Apni Party statement, Shah agreed to facilitate political activists, who are under preventive detention and are lodged outside J&K jails to talk to their families over phone , within a week.
“The gulf between people of Kashmir and people in Jammu needs to be reduced with a promise and purposeful assurance by the country’s top leadership that there shall be no discrimination in development and opportunities on the basis of region or religion,” Bukhari said.—KMS
