Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a three-hour-long meeting with all political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in 22 months with assurances that he was committed to the democratic process with early restoration of statehood and assembly elections following the completion of the ongoing delimitation exercise.

Modi, along with Home Minister Amit Shah, met 14 Kashmiri leaders - including four former chief ministers - in the national capital in a much-awaited meeting that was being closely watched in many world capitals, and including perhaps the United Nations. 

The meeting was crucial as the government was said to be thinking of holding elections to the new union territory though the Kashmiri leaders were still adamant over their demand of restoration of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that nullified its special status, made the state of Jammu and Kashmir into a union, or federally controlled, territory. Its special status - with limited autonomy - was guaranteed by Article 370 by the then Indian government after the former princely state acceded to India in 1947.

Muzaffar Baig of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Conference said, "The meeting was very cordial, very dignified. It was a good meeting. Very positive. We must all work together. The Prime Minister listened very carefully."

Beg quoted Modi to say he would ensure that Kashmir became "a zone of peace rather than conflict."

Regarding restoration of Article 370, he said the issue was in the Supreme Court and could not be discussed. 

Modi said after the delimitation process - or redrawing of constitution boundaries following demographic changes over the years, an exercise that was opposed by some - the government would pursue the process of statehood restoration. He also assured of democratic elections, they said.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former state chief minister, of the Congress party said: "We put forward five demands - statehood restoration, quick elections, guarantee of land, rehabilitaion of Kashmir Pandits and  release of political prisoners

This will be the first interaction between the Kashmiri leaders and Modi since the August 5, 2019 move when radical administrative and governance changes were made in Jammu and Kashmir following the scrapping of Article 370.

Altogether 14 leaders from eight political parties, including four former chief ministers and four ex-deputy chief ministers of the erstwhile state, had been invited to the meeting in New Delhi, which sought to bring to the same table the principal regional players and two national parties – the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition Indian National Congress.

Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Muft - who was kept in detention for over a year - had said that restoration of pre-August 5, 2019 position to Jammu and Kashmir remained the main demand at All Party Meeting (APM).

"We were not against talks called by our Prime Minister," she had said earlier. 

Mehbooba, who is also Vice Chairperson of the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an alliance of five mainstream political parties seeking restoration of special status, said, "We are demanding what has been snatched from the people of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh unconstitutionally on August 5 [2019]."

In reply to a question Mehbooba, who headed a coalition government with BJP for about two years—2016 to 2018-- before the saffron party snapped the ties, said the Modi meeting had no prior agenda.

Similarly,  PAGD chairman Dr Farooq Abdullah, who is one of the veteran leaders in the Valley and who was also kept under house arrest for nearly a year, had said there will be no compromise on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. (SAM)