Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti flew to New Delhi yesterday evening for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the Kashmir Valley remained on the boil with one more civilian killed in firing by security forces.
Government sources in Delhi and Srinagar told IANS that the meeting between Modi and Mehbooba was scheduled to take place this morning at his official 7 Race Course residence.
The sources said the chief minister was summoned to Delhi after Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to the valley.
They said the home minister had asked the chief minister to act tough against and round up those perpetrating a deadly civilian unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani.
“Rajnath Singh carried the same message and that is what Modi is expected to tell Mehbooba,” one of the sources said.
The source said state and central intelligence agencies have prepared a list of around 170 ringleaders, found inciting the unrest and provoking people to take to the streets and throw stones at security forces.
Most of these ringleaders are from south Kashmir, the bastion of Mehbooba’s Peoples Democratic Party.
Jammu and Kashmir police have “not acted and the alleged troublemakers are roaming about free”, the source claimed, adding that the chief minister was being pressurised to crack down on them.
As Mehbooba jetted off to Delhi, one more civilian died after security forces opened fire in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. This took the death toll in the ongoing unrest to 70.
More than 7,000 civilians and 4,000 security personnel have been injured during the unrest – the deadliest the valley has suffered in six years.
Police said Shakeel Ahmad Ganai, 22, was killed after he sustained bullet injuries in a clash with the security forces in Haal village.
A doctor at the sub-district hospital at Pulwama said Ganai had been hit by a bullet that pierced through his heart.
Some three dozen people were injured in other clashes across the valley after the Friday prayers.
The security restrictions were tightened yesterday amid apprehensions that separatist leaders may stoke further trouble. They had asked people to gather in Eidgah prayer grounds for a pro-freedom protest rally in the heart of the volatile old Srinagar city.
But the government thwarted the protest march to the sprawling prayer ground.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the  Hurriyat Conference, was held outside his upscale Hyderpora residence as he defied restrictions and attempted to march to Eidgah.
The moderate Hurriyat chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was also arrested near his Nigeen house. Both the separatist leaders were briefly detained at police stations near their houses.
Meanwhile, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has said India is ready to engage with Pakistan for a “result-oriented dialogue” that seeks to end what he called “cross-border terrorism”.
Responding to a query about the Indian foreign secretary’s response to Pakistan’s invitation for talks, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said foreign secretary S Jaishankar did respond to Pakistan’s invitation but made it clear that “the intended result at the issue is early vacation by Pakistan of its illegal occupation”.
“I would like to confirm that the foreign secretary has indeed responded to his Pakistani counterpart’s letter of August 19 regarding Jammu and Kashmir.
In his letter dated August 24, the foreign secretary has conveyed (to Pakistan) that India seeks a result-oriented dialogue on the subject,” Swarup said.
Swarup said foreign secretary Jaishankar has reiterated that the basis of further discussions would be the Shimla Agreement of 1972, the Lahore Declaration of 1999 and the joint statement of 2004.
“The foreign secretary has made it explicit that the agenda before India and Pakistan today is to put an end to ‘cross-border terrorism’ and incitement to violence,” the MEA spokesman said.
India also reiterated that Pakistan must heed international opinion and extradite Dawood Ibrahim.
The spokesman cited the confirmation by United Nations about six of the nine addresses of Dawood Ibrahim provided by India.
“We hope Pakistan will heed international opinion on this issue,” he said.


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