Claiming that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Kashmiri mainstream political leaders "achieved nothing", Pakistan has termed the deliberations as a “drama” and a "public relations exercise”.

“The meeting achieved nothing. In my view it was a drama that can at the best be called as a public relations exercise that yielded nothing,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said at a media conference.

Chairing a meeting in New Delhi on June 24 with 14 political leaders from eight parties, including four former chief ministers, Modi declared he was committed to restoring democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, especially strengthening grassroots democracy, and told the restive union territory's political parties that its statehood would be given back at an appropriate time.

Launching the political dialogue process at his first meeting with J & K leaders since his government demoted the erstwhile state into a union territory, scrapped its special status and bifurcated it, the prime minister also assured that the assembly election would be held once the delimitation process – redrawing the boundaries of Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies – was completed.

Qureshi claimed only "handpicked politicians" had been called for the meeting, but they too demanded the restoration of political rights, the release of political prisoners and an end to ‘extrajudicial’ killings.

Kashmiris, he said, were demanding security, protection of their property and employment rights, and were unwilling to accept the demographic restructuring project.

Quoting Modi, who had said that the meeting was convened to remove “Dilli ki doori as well as Dil ki doori” (distance from Delhi and distance from the heart), Qureshi said Kashmiris had lost trust and it could not be restored through the “failed meeting”.

Pakistan’s leading media outlet Dawn referred to the All Parties Hurriyat Conference not getting an invite in the meeting at the prime minister’s residence, and claimed: “no concrete assurance was given about the restoration of statehood, which was one of the key demands of the participating politicians”.

“PM Modi was through the meeting aiming to dilute the mounting international pressure for normalizing the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, revive political track, get a consensus on the delimitation of constituencies, further his domestic political agenda, especially ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections,” said Dawn.

“He wanted a clear endorsement from the participating politicians of his scheme for occupied Jammu and Kashmir. But, in an apparent setback for him, that could not happen although some of the participants seemed to be inclined to his ideas during the three and a half-hour-long session,” it said.

(SAM)