Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reached out to opposition leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, and discussed the prevailing situation in the state. Meanwhile, Singh reviewed the Kashmir situation for the second time in as many days and instructed officials to do the needful to bring back normalcy in the state. Referring to his conversation with the home minister, Omar Abdullah said his party will play what ever role is required to help normalise the situation but the onus was on the state and central governments. Only after the lethal use of force ends can we begin to pull the valley back from the abyss.. — Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 11, 2016Singh is also speaking to other opposition leaders on the Kashmir situation, sources said. The home minister’s discussions with Gandhi and Omar, who ruled Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and 2015, are believed to be an attempt by the central government to take opposition leaders into confidence.

Source: Hindustan Times July 11, 2016 09:56 UTC