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| Farooq, Army oppose withdrawal of AFSPA, Omar cornered | | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 28: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) the cornerstone of his Kashmir policy. The fact is that ever since his elevation to the office of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has been denouncing the AFSPA and demanding its revocation or withdrawal, saying such a development would go a long way in wining over the "alienated" Kashmiri Muslims. He has been urging the Prime Minister to revoke this anti-terror law. He has been urging the Union Home Minister to accept his demand and he has also been persuading the Congress high command to make the Union Government concede his demand.
Ironically, the Union Home Minister has on umpteen occasions expressed himself in favour of amending the AFSPA. So much so, he has prepared a blueprint in this regard, which is, according to reports, under the consideration of the Union Government. In fact, the Union Government would have by now endorsed that blueprint, but it has failed to do so because of the stiff opposition from the Ministry of Defence and the Army Chief, General V K Singh. If sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) are to be believed, then it can also be said that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is in complete accord with the Ministry of Defence and that he doesn't share the views of Home Minister P Chidambaram, who has been, like Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, airing controversial views and creating additional difficulties in the state. Sources in the PMO suggest that the Prime Minister is for a tough stand and that he wants to deal with Pakistan and its supporters in Kashmir squarely. In other words, according to sources, the PMO and the Home Ministry are pulling in different directions as far as the withdrawal of the AFSPA or otherwise is concerned.
The difference of opinion between the PMO and the Home Ministry on the issue constitutes a major impediment in the way of Chief minister Omar Abdullah. But more than that, he doesn't enjoy the support of his father, party president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah in this regard. Leave alone the Army, which only on Saturday dismissed the reports regarding its willingness to divest itself of the powers it enjoys under the AFSPA as a "misplaced impression." "It is a misplaced impression that the Army has consented and concurred with the State Government on the issue of the revocation of the AFSPA. It is reiterated that this premise is absolutely presumptuous and devoid of substance as no such concurrence has been accorded by the Army," One Army top brass said yesterday.
As mentioned, Farooq Abdullah doesn't approve of the Chief Minister's views on the AFSPA. He has on a number of occasions expressed himself against the demand being made by his son and others of his ilk. Even yesterday at Kolkata, he rejected out-of-hand the demand seeking revocation of the AFSPA. "Laws like AFSPA had resulted in excesses in the Valley, but he is not in favour of withdrawing it…Let AFSPA stay, but let there also be justice," he, in fact, said, during a debate on "Civil Society is also responsible for the emergence of terrorism in India." Fair enough. Laws have to be implemented in the spirit they are conceived.
Farooq Abdullah not only emphasized the need of retaining the AFSPA, but he also advocated the need for the application of such anti-terror laws as POTA. "During my Chief Minister-ship, I implemented POTA going against my Cabinet as it was the only option in fighting terror. But during the elections, the opposition brought this up against me. But they did not realize that I did it in the interest of the nation," he told the audience in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely, former Army Chief General V P Malik and interlocutor Dileep Padgaonkar.
Now that the party president and Union Minister has publicly taken on Omar Abdullah and practically snubbed him, it is time for him to quit and pave way for the formation of an alternative government. A Chief Minister who cannot take along his party president has no moral right to continue in office even for a day. He has no moral and political right to continue to cling on to the Chief Minister's post even for a moment because the Army has also contradicted the claim of his government that the Army had agreed to go with the Chief Minister as far as his stand on the AFSPA was concerned. A Chief Minister who cannot hold his own has to quit to demonstrate that he cares more for his self-respect than anything else. Even otherwise, he has failed the state. |
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