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A surge in militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir will make it tough for the coalition government to initiate the process for revocation of the Armed Forces Specials Powers Act (AFSPA), which has been agreed upon by the two parties in their 'Agenda of the Alliance'. A senior official in the state’s home department said the process would have been started from Jammu city and Budgam in Kashmir that have largely enjoyed a semblance of peace in the last decades. “The attacks in Jammu will certainly shadow the process, but it doesn’t mean that the government is giving up on its promises,” the official said.
“The state government keeping in view the improving security scenario will examine the need for de-notifying 'disturbed areas', which have been free from militancy-related incidents for quite some time. It will enable a phased withdrawal of AFSPA from such areas,” Mufti told the assembly.
“Can you look at the security issue through the prism of politics," Chaudhary Lal Singh, senior BJP leader and minister for health, said. "We will have to ensure the security of our people first and create an atmosphere to stop these kinds of attacks, instead of playing politics."
“As the home minister of India, Mufti imposed AFSPA in Kashmir and he is now talking of its withdrawal. Does he want our officers and jawans of security forces to become cannon fodder just so that he can please his sympathizers in Pakistan and the separatists in the state? Politics cannot be allowed to take precedence over national security,” Congress party's Legislative Party leader, Nawang Rigzin Jora said.
"I think, this is also an occasion for us to do some re-thinking and rise above political lines. Any decision regarding sensitive issues, like AFSPA, to maintain it or withdraw it, to continue it or discontinue it, has to be essentially based on the wisdom and inputs of the security agencies, instead of getting tempted by political considerations," Union minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office and senior BJP leader from Jammu, Dr Jitender Singh, said.
By Premji
