Differences within the Congress surfaced today over the demand to partially withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
In the core committee meeting of the party, Defense Minister A K Antony raised objections and remarked that the army should not be seen in bad light in Jammu & Kashmir. While Home Minister P Chidambaram insisted on taking political measures to pacify the current Kashmir situation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too supported Antony and warned the party against taking “hasty steps”.
The UPA government has convened a Cabinet Committee on Security on Saturday morning—on the auspicious occasion of Eid—to finalize and announce some political measures. But the mood in the Core Committee might resist the government from announcing the partial withdrawal of the AFSPA from some districts in J&K.
Antony defended the role of his Armed Forces and said that it should not be demonized for its role in J&K. he also argued that if AFSPA is withdrawn from J&K, similar demands may come from the troubled Manipur state. The Defense Minister also underlined that the Armed Forces don’t support this proposal and their views should also be kept in mind while deciding the political package for Kashmir.
In the 90-minute long meeting, Union Health Minister and former j&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress state unit chief Saifuddin Soz and Congress general secretary in-charge of the state Prithviraj Chavan were invited to give their opinions. In the meeting, attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram aired a different view and emphasized on the need for some political action to break the impasse in the valley.
Chavan and Azad also opposed this move to withdraw AFSPA as these, according to them, could be seen as succumbing to pressure. Significantly, before the Core Group meeting, three Service Chiefs called on the Prime Minister but the PMO said it had nothing to do with the Kashmir discussions.
