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| Omar to persuade Army Chief to repeal AFSPA | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 19: Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah, has plans of utilising the new Army Chief, Gen.V.K.Singh's first visit to Jammu and Kashmir,for making yet another bid for persuading the General to recommend repeal of the Armed Forces(special Powers) Act.In fact three months ago Omar Abdullah had succeeded in convincing the the Union Home Minister, P.C. Chida-mbaram, and the defence Minister, A.K. Antony, for scrapping the controversial AFSPA which could blunt the separatists'campaign against not only the Government but against the troops.
Gen.Singh will be visiting all the three regions in the state on Wednesday to have on the spot assessment of the security scenario.And Omar Abdullah will not miss the opportunity for raking up the issue of the repeal of the AFSPA.National Confer ence sources said that Omar is quite upset over day to incidents in which number of Army officials have been involved.He is equally upset ovber the way the separatists and the main opposition PDP have been campaigning against the Army while referring to some incidents of human rights violations.
Sources said that Omar Abdullah has prepared a list of recent incidents of human rights violations and excesses committed by the security forces in order to convince the Army Chief that these excesses were possible only because of the AFSPA.Abdullah knows it well that the draconian law could be scr apped only if the Army's top brass recommended it or approved it.
Three months ago the Union Home Minister had hinted that either the AFSPA would be repealed or amended suitably but the plan had to be dropped because of the stiff oppositon by the Army.The Army authorities had conveyed their fears saying that if the AFSPA was withdrawn the situation may worsen in Jammu and Kashmir.
Reports said that Omar Abdullah will try to convince the Army Chief that since the incidents of militancy related violence had declined there was no need for retaining the AFSPA.He may also reraise the issue of withdrawal of troops from within the civilian areas.Omar and other NC leaders want the troops to remain deployed on the border but are for tot al pullout from within the civilian areas on the plea that once the troops were sent to the barracks there would be no incident of excesses.
According to these r eports the Union Minster or New and renewable E nergy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, has decided to take up the issue of repeal of the AFSPA and the withdrawal of troops from within the civilian areas with the Defence Minister and the Union Home Minister.In fact the National Confer ence leadership want s toake the credit for the pullout of troops and the repeal of the AFSPA,if the centre coeded its demand,so that the party could score over its rivals,the PDP and the separatists.
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