Azad, Mehbooba meet PM on demilitarisation issue

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and coalition partner PDP's president Mehbooba Mufti to reportedly sort out the issue of troop reduction in the insurgency-racked state.

The more than three-hour meeting, at which Defence Minister A K Antony was also present, is taking place against the backdrop of reports that the Congress-PDP alliance in the state is on the verge of a breakdown over the latter's demand for reduction of troops. The party had also boycotted the last two cabinet meetings over the issue.

PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had recently written to the PM asking that his party's demand for demilitarisation be considered.

After the 2002 assembly elections, the Congress and the PDP reached a post-poll alliance to form a coalition government, with the latter having a Chief Minister for the first three years of the government's term and the Congress subsequently heading the government.

UNI