PM to convene all-party meet on Jammu situation

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened an all-party meeting possibly on August six on the continuing violence in Jammu region as the Centre on Monday rushed two top bureaucrats there to assess the situation.

The Centre decided to call the meeting to find a national consensus on the Amarnath land transfer row which threatens to polarise the state.

With violence in Jammu region refusing to end, the situation in the state was reviewed at a high-level meeting presided today by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

Top leaders of all political parties will be invited to the meeting where the Centre will brief the leaders of the political parties about the steps being taken by the Centre and would seek their cooperation in maintaining communal harmony in the state as well as in the country.

Apart from the national political parties, all regional parties, including National Conference and People's Democratic Party, will be invited to attend the meeting, official sources said.

In the meantime, the Centre today rushed Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh to violence-hit Jammu after the state government sought the Centre's intervention in smooth passage of goods-laden trucks through Punjab.

There were reports that some activists of BJP were stopping trucks, carrying essential supplies to Kashmir valley, in Punjab, the sources said.