Owaisi Confirms Attendance At All-Party Meet On Pahalgam Attack After Amit Shah's Call

Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), has stated that he will be attending the all-party conference that was called to discuss the recent terrorist assault in Pahalgam. Union Home Minister Amit Shah personally called him to invite him to the meeting, and he confirmed it.

Owaisi told reporters at a press briefing that Shah had inquired about his whereabouts and encouraged him to come to the meeting. This meeting is being held for a national purpose. I received a call from the Home Minister inviting me. Owaisi declared, "I'll purchase the earliest ticket and attend."

The move follows Owaisi's earlier appeal to the government to ensure that smaller political parties, including those with fewer than five or ten Members of Parliament, are not excluded from the meeting. He had expressed concern that only larger parties were being considered for participation.

In a post on social media platform X, Owaisi shared details of a prior conversation with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. He stated that Rijiju told him the government was contemplating restricting invitations to parties with at least five or ten MPs, arguing that the meeting could become too lengthy otherwise. Owaisi said he responded by asking, "What about us, the smaller parties?" and noted that Rijiju joked about Owaisi's voice being "too loud" anyway.

This strategy was condemned by Owaisi, who emphasized that the purpose of the gathering is to show a united national front against terrorism, not to further the agenda of any one party. "Neither the BJP nor any other party is holding this meeting internally. It's intended to send a strong, unified message to those that enable terrorists and against terrorism in general," he stated. He asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to spend more time listening to all of the elected officials.

He also urged that all views in Parliament, regardless of party size, be fully represented at the meeting. "This is not a political issue; it is a national one.

He urged Modi to guarantee complete participation across party lines, saying that any party, even if it only has one MP, was chosen by the people and should be heard.

The only AIMIM representative in the Lok Sabha is still Owaisi. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is anticipated to lead the all-party meeting, which is set to take place in the Parliament on Thursday at 6 PM.

The gathering comes after a devastating terrorist attack earlier this week in Pahalgam's Baisaran meadow. Twenty-five Indian tourists and one Nepali national were killed in the attack, while numerous others were injured. It has been called one of the most deadly assaults in Kashmir since the Pulwama explosion in 2019, which killed 40 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).