New Delhi: All efforts have been taken to minimize and undermine the purpose of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kashmir summit.
The summit, which will take place on Thursday, June 24, is the first big gathering after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, effectively ending Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
The Ladakh region has been designated as a separate Union Territory, and J&K has been designated as a UT.
Thursday's meeting could lay down the first steps for a road map to revert to statehood for J&K.
14 leaders of eight political parties have been invited by the Centre and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who may be present along with the others.
The meeting will kick-start the political process in J&K, especially since the possibility of holding the Assembly elections might figure prominently.
The completion of much talked about delimitation process, the increase of seven assembly seats in the Jammu region is also likely to be discussed.
There is already a line that is being pushed is that the Jammu region will continue to be neglected even after the abrogation of Article 370 because the 'Kashmir valley' has received around 90% of jobs and about 80%-85% of the tourism budget in recent years.
The Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir to redraw the parliamentary and assemblies constituencies is expected to end the exercise by March 2022.
The government notified the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act on August 9, 2019, providing that the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir will increase from 107 to 114.
The Kashmir valley region has 46 seats, while the Jammu region has 37 seats. After delimitation, seven more seats are likely to be added to the Hindu-dominated Jammu division.
Of these, 24 seats fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok). Excluding these, the strength of the new Assembly now would be 90, as compared to 83 before August 2019.
According to PDP politician and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, PM Modi should hold talks with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir problem. BJP leaders and Kashmiri Pandit leaders have said Pakistan is not a stakeholder in 'internal matters' of India and, PDP's stance was like playing a 'proxy' card on behalf of Islamabad.
Both PDP and National Conference leaders have said they stand firmly committed to revocation of Article 370.
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