news details |
|
|
| MHA calls NC's bluff | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 18: NC working president and J&K CM Omar Abdullah and other party leaders like his uncle and additional general secretary of the party Mustafa Kamaal and MP Mehboob Beg had made revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) the cornerstone of their speeches and statements, particularly after September 2010 and created an impression that they were committed to what they had been saying about this legislation that provides legal immunity to the armed forces involved in anti-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir State.
Many NC leaders, including Omar Abdullah, had even lambasted JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz for his stand on the AFSPA. Soz's initial stand was that the AFSPA could not be withdrawn without the consent of the Armed forces as they were the main stakeholders. He had, in addition, denounced the Chief Minister for his stand on the AFSPA on the ground that the latter could not make any announcement on the issue unilaterally. The stand of Soz had created bitterness between the two parties to the extent that both indulged in bitter war of words. The situation was brought under control only after the Congress high command intervened. It is a different matter that Soz later on fell in line and would speak the language of Omar Abdullah.
Any way, it is now clear that Omar Abdullah and ilk had raised a hue and cry over the issue only to mislead and hoodwink the Kashmiri opinion and arouse passions and that the NC was never interested in getting the AFSPA revoked for obvious reasons. That Omar Abdullah and his coalition government were not interested in the revocation of the AFSPA became clear during the just-concluded Monsoon Session of the Parliament. It became more than clear that the Omar Abdullah-led government had never made any formal request to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking withdrawal of the AFSPA from Jammu & Kashmir. It was none other than the Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran who made this startling revelation in his reply to a starred question submitted by Thokohom Meinya and Gurudas Gupta. His reply did not mention Jammu & Kashmir among the states which had demanded revocation of the Act. Meinya and Gupta, both members of the two Lok Sabha, had asked question whether some state governments had sought revocation or withdrawal of the AFSPA. "Only the state of Nagaland has made a request in working for de-notification of the disturbed area. Keeping the internal security imperatives in mind, the request could not be acceded to," the MoS Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha in reply.
What the MHA said in the Lok Sabha must call the Chief Minister's bluff and set the record straight. It must be noted that Omar Abdullah has again and again claimed that his government took up the issue of AFSPA revocation with the Centre. Only in May this year, while inaugurating 4th bridge on River Tawi in Jammu, he had said he was not able to convince the Union Home Minister and the Defence Minister on the issue of "selective withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the areas where the army was not operating in J&K". It is time for the people of Kashmir to see through the unholy game plan of the NC and behave accordingly. As for the NC leadership, it needs to discard its politics of rabble-rousing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
