Wednesday’s meet fails to decide on withdrawal of AFSPA
The all-party meeting on Jammu and Kashmir today decided to send a delegation to the state to help restore peace, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said dialogue and discussion were “the only path for lasting peace and prosperity” and Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking “Why is there so much anger?” in Jammu and Kashmir.
Home Ministry sources told Business Standard that the delegation would leave on Sunday for a two-day visit. Apart from holding meetings in the violence-hit Kashmir valley, the team will also visit the Jammu region.
“It will be an open offer to all political parties to join this delegation. If the Hurriyat leaders want, even they can join this delegation and participate in the peace initiatives,” said a top bureaucrat involved in the ‘fire-fighting’ process. The delegation will submit its report which would be taken up for discussion in the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security.
The all-party meet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however failed to arrive at any decision on the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), as parties aired different views. Even Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who was pushing hard for withdrawal of the Act from certain areas of the state, today skipped the entire issue while he gave an overview of the current situation.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — the main Opposition parties — vehemently opposed any dilution or rollback of AFSPA, many other parties like the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party were silent on the issue. Even Sonia Gandhi, who spoke on behalf of the Congress, didn’t air any specific demand but said the government “understands the extreme pressures and dangerous circumstances our police and security forces face in protecting our sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The ruling National Conference (NC) pitched hard for revocation of the Act. The Left parties also supported the removal of AFSPA. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the government could think of partial removal of AFSPA, while Forward Bloc leader Debabrat Biswas and RSP MP Prashanta Mazumdar felt the removal should be the “first step” towards taking confidence-building measures.
The Prime Minister renewed his appeal for talks in the meeting, which lasted for almost five hours. “Meaningful dialogue can happen only in an atmosphere free from violence and confrontation. Discussions can take place only if we have a calm and public order. The central and state governments have already appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the youth, to eschew violence. I reiterate that appeal. We are ready for dialogue with anybody or any group that does not espouse or practice violence,” he said.
Even as three more people were reportedly killed today in Poonch district in clashes with security forces, the PM said: “I was shocked and distressed to see young men and women — even children — joining the protests on the streets.”
In her speech, Sonia Gandhi made a veiled attack on the state government’s lacklustre performance saying, “We must ask ourselves why there is so much anger. Why is there so much pain, in particular amongst the youth...we must give them hope, we must understand and respect their legitimate aspirations.”
PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti had boycotted the all-party meet convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah earlier. Today, she took the opportunity to lash at the state government and asked why these incidents were happening now.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari raised six issues and demanded no dilution of AFSPA, which was later supported by senior party leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.
