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| Omar proposes, Omar disposes | | Another U-Turn | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 2: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is taking U-turn almost everyday and in the process becoming a laughing stock and losing his grip over the administration by the day. On October 21, he announced with much fanfare that he would remove AFSPA from certain districts before the Durbar move but failed to keep his word. Why because the Defence Minister and the Army put their foot down and rejected out-of-hand Omar Abdullah's controversial suggestion. On November 9, Omar Abdullah convened meeting of the all-powerful Unified Headquarters (UHQ) giving an impression that he would make members of the UHQ endorse his suggestion and enable him to fulfill the commitment that he made in Srinagar just before the Durbar move that he would remove AFSPA after the UHQ's meeting but nothing came out of it. The Chief Minister once again suffered a humiliating defeat because the Army repudiated outright the Chief Minister's line saying his suggestion was fraught with dangerous ramifications.
The outcome of the November 9 meeting had left the Chief Minister rattled and infuriated. He was so disturbed, so upset and so angry that he used very strong language against the Army. He went to the extent of saying the following day that he was not going to accept "no" from the Army and that he alone had the power to take a final decision on the issue. But the frustrated and angry Chief Minister did nothing in practical terms. Actually, he couldn't do anything because the Army and others had shown the Chief Minister his rightful place. He, then, decided to go to Delhi and meet the powers-that-be there to enlist their support. He camped there for three days and met with the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, the Finance Minister, the Home Minister, the Army chief and the AICC president and UPA chairperson but had to eat a humble pie. Nobody took seriously what he said. The result was that he returned to Jammu empty-handed and as a broken-hearted person. He perhaps realized that he had crossed the line. His announcement that he would first build consensus and then move forward put things in perspective and clearly suggested that he had not done any homework whatever before taking the major plunge and putting at stake his very credibility and office.
On November 23, the Chief Minister took a complete U-turn. He announced in Jammu that his government would amend the state's criminal procedure code (Ranbir Dand Vidhi/Ranbir Penal Code) to bring it at par with the Indian Criminal Procedure Code so that the armed forces could be given legal protection on a permanent basis. He claimed that he had studied all the relevant files, rules and procedures and that his government would do the needful to address the genuine concerns of the armed forces carrying out counter-insurgency operations in the state. He also stated that the final authority vested with the State Governor.
The Chief Minister's U-turn was not taken kindly by the Kashmiri separatists, the PDP leadership, the Kashmir High Court Bar Association, and even the Kashmir-based print media. They denounced the Chief Minister saying the latter wanted to give absolute powers to the Army on a permanent basis and this was utterly unacceptable. The extremists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq threatened an agitation against the Chief Minister's proposed amendment. They said "any amendment in Ranbir Penal Code will force us to start a massive agitation". They administered threat on November 26. On the other hand, Mehbooba Mufti dismissed the Chief Minister's suggestion as "diabolical" and opined that the proposed amendment "amounts to introducing a virtual martial law in the state on a permanent basis".
The threat administered by the extremists and the stand of the PDP, the Kashmir-based lawyers and the media had their impact on the Chief Minister. Fearing a backlash, he took one more U-turn. He on November 29 said in Srinagar that "it will be irresponsible on our part not to at least consider all the suggestions received by us. Ultimately, we will decide what is best for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Government has not prepared any papers regarding the amendments to be made ion the CrPC. Any decision in this regard will be taken after wider consultation with all the concerned".
All this shows that the Chief Minister has not only lost his way, but has also allowed himself to be dictated by the Kashmiri extremists and separatists. Indeed, a very sad reflection. |
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