Congress leaders discuss situation in Kashmir

Top Congress leaders today met here in the wake of the spurt in violence in Kashmir Valley with home minister P Chidambaram briefing them about the current situation.

The hour-long meeting of the Congress core group chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi discussed the issue in detail as the party had expressed concern over the developments there.

Apart from Gandhi, all other members of the core group including prime minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram and political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel attended the meeting, party sources said.

They said Chidamabaram briefed the Congress president and the prime minister about the current situation in the state.

Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan had earlier said that her party was concerned over the situation in the valley and the fact that elements from across the border and separatists were trying to create tension and violence in Kashmir.

Natarajan had said the Centre and the state governments were seized of the matter and were "confident" that they would be able to restore law and order and peace at the earliest.