Seeking ways to defuse the three-month unrest in Kashmir Valley, an all-party delegation led by Home Minister P Chidambaram commenced a series of meetings which will be also attended by PDP but without its chief Mehbooba Mufti while separatists are staying away.

The 42-member team, which arrived here on a crucial two-day visit to assess the ground situation, was received by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, as curfew remained clamped in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The death toll during violence and clashes in the last three months is now at 103.

PDP's Mehbooba Mufti will not be meeting the delegation which will have interaction with the main opposition party's General Secretary Mohd Dilawar Meer, who will be accompanied by 14 party members.

Moderate Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF will skip meeting the team but will submit a memorandum to it, JKLF chief Yasin Malik said.

"It is a creative memorandum. Hope it is taken in the right spirit and that the delegation understands the pulse of the people," Malik said.

Some members of the 42-member delegation are likely to call on hardline Hurriyat leader Sye Ali Shah Geelani at his Hyderpora residence here.

Though Geelani has officially refused to meet them, he said the delegation members will not be turned away if they decide to call on him at his house as they were guests.

Shortly after arrival, Chidambaram said each major political party in J and K has been allotted 15 minutes.

"It is very important that you use your 15 minutes to your best advantage," he said.

State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said granting autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir was the key to the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

He claimed that alienation of the people of the state has been increased but no step is being taken to bridge the gap.

Rather also criticised those demanding abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution (granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir), saying "they were living in a fools' paradise".

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Saifuddin Soz said there was a need to find an "unconventional" solution to the Kashmir issue and he would push for a consensus for it.

"We have to find out ways...," he said.

Yasin Malik said they decided not to meet the delegation as curfew has been imposed in Kashmir for the last four months and people were suffering but simultaneously wanted to send a creative message in the form of sending a memorandum.

Mehbooba said her party was upset with the state government as the common people could hardly move out of their houses.

She also accused the ruling NC of "arranging" their own people for making presentations before the delegation and even children of NC workers as students to meet the delegation.

"So it is going to be PDP's view points and NC's view points. The independent view point is not going to come there," she said.


PDP asks all-party team to consider out of box solutions

(PTI) The opposition PDP in Jammu and Kashmir today asked the visiting all-party delegation to come out of the fixation and consider "out of box solutions" for resolving the Kashmir issue.

"Although we were given just 15 minutes to put our point, we have told the delegation that they have to come out of the fixation and come up with out of the box solutions to resolve the Kashmir issue. All suggestions from the mainstream or separatist quarters should be considered," PDP leader Nizamuddin Bhatt told reporters after meeting the team.

He said the all-party delegation should have visited the affected areas, including the hospital and district headquarters, to get a first hand account of the sufferings of the people.

Bhatt said the present crisis has been a simple outcome of two factors which need to be addressed - the long pending Kashmir dispute and immediate "mishandling" of the situating by the state government.

He said the party has reiterated its demand for taking steps that will make the situating conducive for starting a process of resolution which included revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and removing the "gag on freedom of expression".

The Centre will have to take steps for "wriggling the people of the Valley from the siege and stop the killing so that they feel that they are living in a truly democratic system".