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| Message in Union Home Minister's No to AFSPA revocation | | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 15: Central Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has ruled out any immediate revocation of AFSPA after completing his three day visit to the State. The stand taken by Shinde is in line with that taken earlier by his predecessor P. Chidambaram.
The Union Home Minister made it clear that despite the fact that peace was gradually returning to the State any hasty revocation of AFSPA would prove counter productive. The State Government has been strongly advocating the revocation of the Act that gives special powers to the armed forces to operate against the militants.
It is a welcome statement from the Union Home Minister and it is sure many important inputs from the army, the paramilitary forces, State police and different intelligence agencies were made available to Shinde during his stay in the State before he made at the end of his visit.
The Union Home Ministry also chaired a meeting of the unified command headquarters in Srinagar where he dealt in detail with the various security aspects of Jammu and Kashmir. The issue of providing security to Panchs and Sarpanchs was also discussed threadbare during the meeting. Besides overall sanitization of vulnerable areas it was decided during the course of the meeting that individual security would also be considered in case of specific cases where a Panch or a Sarpanch faced threat from the militants.
The final call, as the Union Home Minister said would have to be taken by the State Government. Instead of trying to make a strong case for the revocation of AFSPA which is now definitely not going to be revoked unless a holistic overview of every security detail is taken by those concerned with maintenance of peace and tranquility in the country, the State Government should apply itself seriously to address the problems of the common man.
The days of harping on emotional issues are actually over in the State. If anybody wanted to convert the AFSPA revocation issue into some sort of a national debate, the exercise has bitterly failed. People of the State are so heavily burdened with their livelihood issues that taking to the streets on issueless emotive slogans would no longer work.
The security forces of the country have worked so hard and tirelessly for the last over 20 years to bring about a situation where one can also think in terms of AFSPA revocation. Was such a thought even remotely possible when all the politicians and leaders of mainstream political parties had to run away from the Valley in the wake of militant threats during 1990s?
It is, therefore, prudent to carefully analyze the statement of the Union Home Minister and to understand the message contained in it. Nobody can be allowed to further political interests by trying to compromise the security of the country. |
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