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| Govt rejects Justice Verma Committee recommendation on AFSPA | | Setback for Omar | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
New Delhi, Feb 3: NC working president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had felt quite relieved on January 23 when the Government of India-appointed Justice J S Verma Committee submitted its report and, inter-alia, recommended repeal of the AFSPA under which the Army and paramilitary forces enjoy immunity. The committee was appointed following gang rape of a young girl in New Delhi on December 16 and it, inter-alia, demanded revocation of the AFSPA from "conflict zones" such as "Jammu & Kashmir and Northeastern states". Talking to media persons in New Delhi on January 23, Gopal Subramaniam, member of the committee, had said that the report had suggested that the armed forces, including paramilitary forces, should be brought under the purview of a common law while operating in conflict zones and that this, the panel felt, was necessary to check the cases of women being sexually exploited.
"Sexual offences by armed forces and uniformed men in conflict areas should be brought under ordinary criminal law…There's an imminent need to review the continuance of AFSPA in areas as soon as possible," he had, among other things, said. On the other hand, Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar had on the same day maintained that "the review of the AFSPA was a difficult issue because the context is different" and asked "How do you divide the action taken in the line of duty where the circumstances are such that nobody knows what is going to happen?" Actually, he made this statement, coupled with a question, while talking to NDTV.
However, the same day the emboldened J&K Chief Minister tweeted twice. His tweets read: "Very impressed with the Justice Verma committee report recommendations. Now for the tough part - implementation…Glad to see he has recommended amending AFSPA to ensure sexual crimes are punished without special sanction. Hope this is implemented…Parliament will do what it has to but I promise the people of J&K that we will look at the Verma committee report with all seriousness...I will propose an all party meeting to discuss the recommendations so that as many as possible are implemented at the earliest in JK".
Perhaps convinced that this time he would be able to persuade the authorities in New Delhi to revoke or amend the AFSPA, Omar Abdullah discussed the issue with the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on January 31. A report said, "In his meeting with Mr Shinde, Omar Abdullah…took up the issue of partial revocation of the AFSPA in the wake of Justice Verma Commission report".
Today, he must be singing in the strain of a swan because the Government of India has rejected outrightly the Justice Verma Committee's recommendation in this regard. Yesterday, the Union Cabinet cleared an ordinance on the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2012 and has sent the same to the President of India for approval and proclamation. Much to the chagrin of Omar Abdullah, there is no reference to the AFSPA in the approved ordinance. The refusal of the Union Cabinet - of which NC president and his father Farooq Abdullah is a member -- to accept of the Justice Verma Committee's recommendation on the AFSPA must be construed as a great setback for the Chief Minister. The decision of the Union Cabinet suggests that the Army might have put its foot down.
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