After leading an all-party delegation of opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of the ground situation in the valley, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah on Monday said they were given a patient hearing by Modi and he accepted very categorically that development alone could not resolve this crisis.
"Leaders of opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir held talks with the Prime Minister in a very conducive environment. The Prime Minister gave us a patient hearing and accepted our memorandum. We spoke to him the same thing that we have been saying to other leaders after coming to Delhi. We told him that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the prevailing situation in the valley, needs to be understood properly and contemplated wisely to find a remedy," Omar told reporters outside South Block.
"We stressed that Jammu and Kashmir is a political issue and such situations emerge from time to time, and if we don't find a political solution to this problem, we will keep on committing the same mistake," said Omar.
"The prime minister told us in categorical terms that development alone would not resolve this problem. I am not going to put words into the Prime Minister's mouth, nor am I going to draw further meaning from what he had said. He did accept that development alone is not the solution to this problem. Beyond this you can pose these questions to the problems," he added.
Expressing hope that there will be some impact of their meeting, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said, "We hope that there will be some impact. We are not here to complain about anybody, we have come here with a request and hope and when those will be followed, it will not only benefit Jammu and Kashmir but it will have a positive impact on the entire nation."
When asked to comment on Arun Jaitley's statement, he said, "We have spoken to the Prime Minister, he didn't say such things. We share our understanding with the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister has accepted that there should be no politics over Jammu and Kashmir in such a situation."
"The responsibility rests on us as well that is why cutting across party line we have come to a single platform to find solution to this problem despite the fact that we fought elections against each other. But we brushed aside those things and come together so that there could be a solution to this problem. And, I urge all the leaders that we will have so much time and space for politics, but Jammu and Kashmir should not become a battlefield of politics," Omar added.