Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Gani Dar was killed by un identified gun man in Rohmoo village of Pulwama district in south Kashmir. Today’s incident in Pulwama came just hours after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

Today Modi and Mehbooba and Rajnath Sigh discussed steps needed to bring peace back to the Valley, where student protests against police actions have been gaining ground in recent days. Though the CM did not specify who the talks would be with, she had earlier invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s policy on Kashmir at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in an apparent suggestion for talks with Protestors.

Earlier Two policemen were injured when protestors attacked the ancestral residence of PDP leader and minister for Hajj and Auqaf Farooq Abdrabi in Kashmir’s Anantnag district last month. The militants also took away four service weapons from the guard room at Abdrabi’s Residence at Dooru in Anantnag.

With the collapse in law and order situation Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir would improve in the next two or three months, after which a dialogue could be initiated.

Mehbooba also raised the issue of security of Kashmiris living in different parts of the country, referring to reports of alleged threats to them in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Home Minster Singh assured Mehbooba that all state governments had been instructed to provide security to Kashmiris in their states and asked to take strong action against anyone threatening or harassing Kashmiris. During the meeting, at which BJP’s general secretary incharge of the state, Ram Madhav, was also present, Mehbooba briefed Singh about the law and order situation in the Valley, where violence broke out during the April 9 bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

At a meeting of the NITI Aayog Sunday, Mehbooba had requested all chief ministers to reach out to Kashmiri students in their states and treat them as their “own children”.

“How long can you have confrontation...There is no option but to talk,” Mehbooba reacted to reporters. “However, an atmosphere needs to be created for a dialogue,” she added.