J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti to hold all-party meet July 21

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has called an all-party meeting here on Thursday to discuss the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley.

An official spokesman here said that the invitation for the meet has been extended to the leaders of all mainstream parties, including the ruling PDP-BJP combine and the Oppo-sition National Confere-nce, Congress, CPI(M), CPI, National Panthers Party, Democratic Party Nationa-list and People’s Democra-tic Front, besides some others “to discuss the situation and the measures to be taken to restore peace and normalcy in the Valley”.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has asked for a “collective effort to get the state back on course”. She also asked the administration to reach out to the people to mitigate their sufferings.

“The government is taking various measures to restore calm and it needs the support of every section of society to normalise the situation to end the miseries of the people,” Ms Mufti said, while speaking at a high-level meeting of the administrative secretaries held here on Monday to review the situation on the governance front.

At the meeting, which was attended also by chief secretary B. R. Sharma and other senior functionaries of the government, the chief minister said that apart from loss of precious human lives and injuries to scores, the local economy, especially the tourism sector and education, had taken a big hit because of the ongoing turbulence in the Valley. She said it was the responsibility of every section of society, including the political leaders, media, religious heads, business community, prominent citizens, and especially the emancipated youth, to rise to the occasion and help the government in restoring peace and normalcy in Kashmir.

The Chief Minister said that the ministers and other government functionaries had been asked to reach out to the people and work with local civil society groups for speedy restoration of peace and normalcy in the affected areas so that the public did not face any hardship. Asking officers to lead from the front in reaching out to the people and mitigating their problems, the chief minister stressed the need for infusing new life in the institutions at the cutting edge level to address the developmental concerns of the public. Ms. Mufti said unemployment was a matter of grave concern and every section of society, including individuals, institutions and organisations, had to be brought together in a spirit of creative enterprise to widen the economic and employment space for the state’s youth and channelize its energies productively. She asserted that the government was responsive to the people’s needs and concerned about their problems and was working judiciously and in a transparent manner to fulfil their aspirations and expectations.

She sought to elucidate that her priority was strict implementation of the rule of law and called for keeping a strict vigil on the activities of “anti-social elements who, in the garb of a law and order situation, indulge in encroachments and misuse of the state’s resources”.

The officials said at the meeting that the situation had stabilized in most of the districts, and except for some sporadic incidents of protests and stone-pelting, the overall law and order scenario had improved substantially. While taking a review of the condition of the injured and availability of medicines and other equipment in hospitals, the chief minister was informed by the commissioner secretary, Health and Medical Education Department that out of the 2,115 persons injured during the prevailing law and order situation, 1,924 have been discharged from hospitals while 191 were still undergoing treatment, including 70 persons with eye injuries.

Those present at the meeting were informed that there were adequate quantities of blood, medicines and other requisite facilities available for the injured in all the hospitals, and no patient needed to be shifted outside the state for treatment. The chief minister said that besides providing free medicines and other requisite materials to the patients, the attendants should also be given free food by the government. Regarding the education sector, the chief minister was informed that the government would review the decision on the reopening of educational institutions with the stabilization of the situation. The authorities announced an extension of summer vacations in these institutions till July 25.