Cong roots for dialogue to calm down Valley unrest

New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) As Home Minister Rajnath Singhwill undertake a two-day visit to the Kashmir Valley tomorrow,Congress today made a strong pitch for initiating talks tocalm down the situation in the state which is on the boil forthe past 45 days. "PM should initiate talks. Unless they take a stepforward, situation in J&K won’t improve," the party tweetedquoting Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, GhulamNabi Azad, today. The remarks came close on the heels of former Unionminister P Chidambaram batting for sending an all-partydelegation to the Valley. Chidambaram said earlier today the meeting between adelegation of J-K opposition parties and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi yesterday must be welcomed if it is thefirst sign of "fresh thinking". "Yesterday’s meeting between PM & J&K opposition parties:if it is the first sign of fresh thinking, we must welcome it. "Next step should be sending All Parties Delegation toJ&K," the senior Congress leader said on the micro-bloggingsite. Only yesterday, Congress had dismissed as "shooting fromthe hip" the Prime Minister’s call for a dialogue to find alasting solution to the unrest in Kashmir Valley. "It looks that the Prime Minister’s words keep changing.What he said at the all-party meeting, his remarks in theIndependence Day address and today he is talking of dialogue,but dialogue with whom? There is a suspicion that these aremere words, mere empty rhetoric for the Prime Minister. He isunfortunately shooting from his hip and merely shooting thebreeze," party spokesman Manish Tewari had said. Modi had a 75-minute-long meeting with a joint oppositiondelegation led by former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullahyesterday. The Prime Minister emphasised on the need for dialogue tofind a "permanent and lasting solution" within the frameworkof the Constitution and also asked all political parties towork together to find a solution to the problems in Jammu andKashmir. Rajnath Singh today said he will review the situation inJammu and Kashmir during his two-day visit there beginningtomorrow, and may hold talks with cross sections of people. This is the second visit of Singh in a month to theValley which has been witnessing unrest since July 8 whenHizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in anencounter with security forces. PTI SPG SRY RGSRY