Manoj Sinha, lieutenant governor of Jammu & Kashmir, met with a number of the Union Territory’s political figures. This meeting took place at Raj Bhawan in Srinagar on Wednesday evening. The meeting was convened to deliberate over the present situation of J&K and Amarnath Yatra which has just started.
The office of LG invited top leaders of the region, including PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, chairman of the Peoples Conference Sajjad Lone, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ravinder Raina and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) general secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami. The Lt Governor stated that the meeting was conducted to discuss administration of Amarnath Yatra.
Office of LG shared pictures of the political leaders who attended the meeting with Manoj Sinha. The tweet mentioned that the LG met with party leaders to discuss plans for the administration of the Shri Amarnath Yatra. Every J&K citizen is accountable for the holy pilgrimage’s effective conduction since it increases our trust in humanity’s inherent goodness.
Adding to the tweet, the Office wrote that all participants in the meeting unanimously agreed that the Shri Amarnath Yatra is akin to a large festival, a celebration of Kashmiriyat for the ordinary J&K citizen. Each and every resident of the UT will provide the pilgrims with warm hospitality and comfort.
However, unlike other senior political leaders of the region, J&K Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti was absent in the meeting. Earlier, her party’s Chief Spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari tweeted to complain that his party received an invitation only in the morning for a meeting scheduled for the evening that day. He also raised questions over outcome of the all-parties meeting chaired by the Prime Minister’s Office earlier.
Earlier, Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted that even though shops have been shut as security precautions for the Amarnath Yatra, it is Kashmiris who provide a real sense of security to Amarnath Yatra pilgrims.
After taking over as LG of J&K in August 2020, this is the first time when Manoj Sinha has invited top political leaders of the region. In May, the leaders of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) met with the lieutenant governor at Raj Bhawan to seek protection for the migrant Pandit employees after the death of Kashmiri immigrant worker Rahul Bhat at Chadoora in Budgam.