All-party delegation to visit Kashmir today

NEW DELHI: An all-party delegation, led by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, will visit Jammu and Kashmir today to assess the ground situation in the state.

According to sources, the delegation would offer an opportunity to all interested stakeholders, be it mainstream state parties or separatists, to air their grievances and suggest ways for redressal.

The delegation, which will be in the state for three days, will visit both Jammu and Srinagar to hear problems specific to each of the two regions.

The 39-member delegation, comprising senior parliamentary party leaders such as BJP's Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Basudeb Acharia of the CPI(M), Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, T R Baalu (DMK), Ramvilas Paswan (LJP), Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool), E Ahamed (Indian Union Muslim League) and Govind Rao Adik (NCP).

The feedback from the delegation would form an important input for the Centre to evolve its response to various issues relating to the State.

Earlier on Wednesday, a cross section of leaders decided after an all-party meeting held in New Delhi on the Kashmir issue, to send an all-party delegation to find a solution to end the violence in the Kashmir Valley.

Though no consensus emerged on key issues that formed the agenda of the over five-hour-long marathon meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, political leaders expressed satisfaction with the tone and tenor of the deliberations.

Removal or amending the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will not be under consideration for now, as the leaders said that efforts to restore peace must be given a chance to succeed.

Earlier the Central Government had issued an official statement that acknowledged a "governance-deficit" in Jammu and Kashmir.

The death toll from the violence in the Kashmir Valley has crossed the 93 mark in the last three months.

Clashes between stone-pelters and security forces have become a near-daily feature in the streets.