Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to chair a meeting with all political parties from Jammu and Kashmir on June 24 as part of the Centre's initiatives to bolster political processes, including holding assembly elections, in the union territory, officials said in New Delhi.
Nineteen candidates saw an extremely close contest in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in Jammu and Kashmir where the margin of victory was less than 100.
Bukhari, who was elected president of the JKAP, said the party's core agenda would be the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and its residents' domicile rights in land and jobs.
The terrorists fired at two non-local labourers at a brick kiln at Magraypora in Chadoora area of the central Kashmir district, the officials said.
The Centre is planning a series of political initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir which may include discussion with mainstream parties of the Union Territory and elections to the assembly in the early part of next year, officials said in New Delhi.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday night decided to replace the paramilitary, central reserve police force (CRPF) with Jammu and Kashmir armed police (JKAP) in Baramulla town, after one more youth died in the CRPF firing in the town.
The eight-phase DDC polls, which began on November 28, is also the first election after Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 was revoked last year and it was reorganised into a Union Territory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the ongoing delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has to happen quickly so that polls can be held to instal an elected government that gives strength to its development trajectory.
With no agenda announced for the meeting, the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir said they have come with an open mind.
The National Conference, the People's Democratic Party and the Congress on Saturday said they will take a call on attending a meeting with the prime minister in Delhi after deliberations within their respective parties, while the Bharatiya Janata Party expressed hope that all invitees will take part in the all-party deliberations.
This is the first ever incident of fratricide in the Kashmir police department.
A new political party called the 'Jammu and Kashmir Apni (own) Party' (JKAP) will be launched on Sunday and will be led by former state finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari, with the primary aim of proving "relief to people who have been facing uncertainty since August 5 last year". This will be the first political activity in Jammu and Kashmir after August 5 last year, when the Centre withdrew the special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Two government school teachers, including a woman, were shot dead by terrorists in Eidgah area of Srinagar amid increasing attacks on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The first-ever district development council (DDC) elections will be held in eight phases to elect 280 members in 20 districts from November 28 to December 22.
Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre's priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.
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