A K Antony calls for all-party team’s visit to Kashmir

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former defence minister A.K. Antony has demanded that an all-party delegation be immediately sent to Kashmir to defuse the dangerous situation there.  He warned that if emergency measures are not taken, the situation would explode in Kashmir. He was speaking at the Kesari memorial hall here on Tuesday after releasing a book, ‘Kashmir--25 journalists from Kerala’ written by a group of journalists who had been to the valley recently.

Mr Antony opined that Kashmir resembled a volcano  ready to explode.  “If urgent measures are not taken, things would go out of hand,” he said. “The central government should intervene at the earliest and efforts should be taken to take the people in the valley into confidence. It’s a difficult task, but we have to do that before it gets too late,” said Mr Antony. There was only a political solution for Kashmir, he said and urged the leaders not to make statements that would antagonise the atmosphere in Kashmir.