SRINAGAR: The all-party meeting on Saturday, convened by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss the crucial issues of increase in the number of Assembly seats, delimitation of the segments and rights for the refugees from Pakistan and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, failed to arrive at a consensus. Subsequently a committee was set up which will give the report on all the issues within 10 days.

Both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, presidents of the National Conference and then People's Democratic Party, stayed away from the meeting. However, Mr. Azad said the State was passing through a critical phase and consensus on all issues was must. "The time demands that all political parties behave in a responsible manner. Differences are bound to be there in a democratic set-up, but they can be resolved through dialogue only," he said. The Chief Minister said that the issue of refugees was hanging in balance for the last five decades.

The meeting chaired by Mr. Azad and attended by all the mainstream parties' representatives discussed at length the issues which also brought to the fore the battle lines between the political parties from Kashmir and Jammu. While the State Cabinet had already taken a decision to increase the number of seats by 25 per cent, the increasing demand by certain parties from Jammu to increase the number of seats according to the population, thus demanding more share for the Jammu region, put a spanner in the works.

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