Kashmir is not an economic issue, Omar tells Rajnath Singh

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss long term and short term measures to resolve Kashmir issue, today.

Omar, who had earlier who refused to attend All Party Meeting convened by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, told reporters that he explained to Rajnath Singh that Kashmir is not an economic issue but fundamentally a political problem.

KASHMIR- POLITICAL NOT ECONOMIC ISSUE

"Kashmir is a political issue and we informed the Home Minister to have a courage to accept that Kashmir is a political issue and start dialogue with all stakeholders involved in this issue as a long-term measure," he said.

Omar argued that a dialogue process, which should be acceptable to majority of the people, must be initiated to reach to a solution. "This is what we told the Home Minister and we hope he will think over it," Abdullah said.

He also requested the home minister to relax the curfew and stop the use of force and pellet guns.

After the meeting Omar told reporters that he was happy to receive positive response from Singh. "I met him separately in Delhi earlier and had a long meeting with him and his response was very positive," he added.

Rajnath Singh, who was on a two-day visit in the valley, had chaired a high-level security meeting and met delegations of political parties.

"J&K GOVERNEMNT IS POWERLESS"

Justifying his party's absence from Mufti's All Party Meeting, Omar stated that there was no logic in attending the meeting as 'J&K government is powerless'.

"There was no use of talking to those who have themselves stated that they have no clue about present situation. First they said they had information about Burhan (Burhan Muzaffer Wani) and then they say they had no information about Burhan. Then they say excessive use of force was stopped by the Prime Minister not by the Chief Minister. Then they say they have no information about media ban. Seeing all these things we realized we didn't participate in that meeting," he added.

Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday had called for the All Party Meeting to discuss the possible political solution to the mounting crisis in the valley.

She had asserted that a politically-inclusive and developmentally-intensive agenda should be undertaken by the country's political leadership to address the internal and external challenges of Kashmir.

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