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| Danger to India is from Delhi, not Srinagar | | Chidambaram on AFSPA | | Neha
Jammu, Oct 2: The danger to the unity and sovereignty of India is more from New Delhi than Srinagar which has been standing on the Indian nerve since more than 150 years. There are elements in Delhi who want to tie the hands of the Army and paramilitary forces involved in anti-insurgency operations in the state. One such powerful person, who is also an important member of the Congress Core Committee, is Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
In October 2010, when Kashmir was burning and the nation was demanding a stringent action against the separatists, Chidambaram as Home Minister had said "Kashmir is a unique problem that needed a unique solution". And yesterday (October 1), he bemoaned the continuation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) under which the Army and paramilitary forces enjoy a legal immunity. He regretted that nothing much could be done during his tenure as Home Minister to revoke the AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir. "I wish I and the Chief Minister (Omar Abdullah) could have succeeded in persuading some colleagues to amend the AFSPA as far as it could be done," he said during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Jammu and Kashmir Bank at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar, and added that "there is need to do much more to reduce the presence of the 'uniformed forces' on the ground, though it had been thinned to some extent".
Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Jammu and Kashmir Bank was an occasion to say what he said, but he did so completely overlooking the dangerous ramifications of what he said. His statement would surely further demoralize the already rather demoralized Army and security forces and further embolden the separatists and extremists to heighten their anti-India activities.
It needs to be underlined that the Jammu and Kashmir Government has not made any formal request to the Union Home Ministry seeking withdrawal of the AFSPA from the state. This startling disclosure was made in the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament by none other than Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally in his written reply to a starred question by Thokohom Meinya and Gurudas Gupta. In the written reply, there was no mention of Jammu and Kashmir among the states which had demanded revocation 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 conceded," the written reply of the MoS Home Affairs said. This shows that while Omar Abdullah and his government have been only fooling the people by raising a hue and cry over the issue, persons like Chidambaram have been regretting they could not do much in this regard. It is a strange situation. |
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