ET Plus Report
srinagar, Mar 14: Amid heated debate on revocation of controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Jammu and Kashmir Congress Committee president Saifuddin Soz is likely to take up the issue of revocation with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, sources said.
According to Congress sources, Soz who met the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi today to discuss the prevailing situation in the Valley, is scheduled to meet the Union Home Minister tomorrow, where he is expected to take up the issue apart from apprising Shinde on the situation obtaining in the Valley. The meeting has assumed significance in the backdrop of Soz having supported the views of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for revocation of the controversial act from the State.
Meanwhile, senior National Conference leader, Ali Mohammad Sagar said his party was committed to revocation of AFSPA while calling for beginning of revocation of the act without any further delay.
He dismissed the suggestion that the demand for revocation had weakened in wake of the Bemina Fidayeen attack in which 5 CRPF personnel were killed on Wednesday.
"Such attacks can happen anywhere in the country. There were attacks in Mumbai, Delhi and recently in Hyderabad. Should AFSPA be invoked there also", Sagar questioned.
"The areas where there is negligible presence of militancy should be identified and the process of revocation of AFSPA should being forthwith. The Chief Minister has time and again expressed his will for revocation of the Act and there is a broader consensus across board for revocation of the Act", Sagar told news agency KNS.
Sagar, however, said the issue has not come up in the Coalition Coordination Committee of National Conference and Congress parties.
Sources said the issue is due to be discussed in a meeting of the NC-Congress Coordination Committee to be held in next few days.
Meanwhile, amid heated debate in both Houses of the Parliament today, Members of Parliament, Mehboob Beig, Gulam Nabi Ratanpuri and Sharifuddin Shariq vehemently demanded revocation of the controversial AFSPA from the State. |
