PDP defers Monday meeting with Mehbooba Mufti

The meeting between a 10-member delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and detained party chief Mehbooba Mufti has now been deferred. The meeting, scheduled for Monday in Srinagar, was deferred by the party. The meeting is expected to be held later.

Mehbooba Mufti has been under detention since the government's decision to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

The announcement that a PDP delegation would meet Mehbooba Mufti on Monday had come on a day a 15-member delegation of National Conference from Jammu met their detained party president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.

However, the PDP has now deferred the meeting with the party chief. The reasons behind the move have not been conveyed by the party.

When the announcement was made, former PDP legislator and spokesperson Firdous Tak had said the PDP had requested Governor Satya Pal Malik to allow a party delegation from Jammu to meet Mehbooba Mufti and "we have been conveyed that the permission has been granted".

The PDP leader had also said that a meeting was underway to decide who would go to Srinagar to meet Mehbooba Mufti.

"A meeting is going on to finalize the delegation which will leave for Srinagar to meet the party president tomorrow [Monday]. Most probably, the strength of the delegation will be of 15 or 18 members," Firdous Tak was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister, was detained on August 5, the day the Centre announced abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

The NC delegation, which met Farooq and Omar Abdullah on Sunday, discussed developments in J&K and upcoming local body polls during the separate meetings with the two leaders.