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| AFSPA put on backburner, advice to J&K govt to reduce 'governance deficit' | | Defence ministry silently pulls the rug! | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Dec 18: Centre has put the issue of withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on the back burner and advised state government to concentrate more on removing much talked about 'governance deficit'.
Confirming this to Early Times, a senior official in the Union Defense Ministry said 'Jammu and Kashmir government has been asked to redress 'governance deficit' and leave revocation of AFSPA to the unified command." Stating that it is Union Home Ministry which has been pressing for partial revocation of AFSPA from certain areas in Jammu and Kashmir, the official said "We have conveyed apprehensions of army and other intelligence agencies to the HM's office."
The official disclosed that defense ministry has explained to all in the union ministry that revocation of AFSPA should be allowed to become a political 'hot potato'. "We have respect for observations of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Like the J&K CM, we too sincerely desire to lift AFSPA from all parts of Jammu and Kashmir but ace strategic and military experts are against this move," said the official. He stated that J&K may have to wait for another 5 to 8 years for getting AFSPA revoked.
Regarding the amendments, the official said that draft of the same is ready and would be sent to Union Home Ministry, who would discuss the same with Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. "He (Omar) would deliberate over the proposed amendments with high powered Unified command. Once, we receive the reports; the proposed amendments would be incorporated in the act either by bringing a special ordinance or through a bill in the next parliamentary session," added the official.
The amendments would address grievances of both army and the Chief Minister, said the official while adding that "it would be win-win situation for both sides which are presently at loggerheads over the issue of revocation of AFSPA." Referring to recent incidents of violence in Kashmir valley, the top official said "elements inimical to peace are out to spoil the peace and calm returning to the valley." Wherever they get an opportunity, they strike with vengeance, commented the official.
Though I am not aware whether stand of Union defense ministry has been communicated to the J&K Chief Minister or not but we would resist all such moves which would be aimed at demoralizing Army and putting curbs over its anti-terrorist actions. "One of the senior ministers of Omar Abdullah government narrowly survived an assassination bid and had the terrorist outfits not claimed the responsibility, people would have put the blame on Army and even substantiated it by referring to the stiff opposition of army to the proposal for AFSPA revocation," the official said.
He went on to claim that terrorist have change operational mode. "They have sleeper cells across the state. Once AFSPA is lifted, they would increase their activities. People must understand that both revocation and application of AFSPA are political decisions which are taken over a period of time. Once revoked, its re-imposition would be extremely difficult since our political system takes too long time in responding to a particular issue especially if it is related to human rights," asserted the official.
Confirming this, when asked by certain reporters on the sidelines of the homage ceremony to mark the 40th Vijay Diwas of the 1971 Indo-Pak war that led to the liberation of Bangladesh, Defence minister A.K.Antony said, "Even though violence levels have reduced substantially, attempts at infiltration are still persisting. We can't ignore the threat. We have to be alert in our border areas." Defence and home ministries continue to pull in different directions over AFSPA's withdrawal, with the latter holding that it can be done from the largely violence-free districts like Srinagar, Budgam, Jammu and Samba.
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