New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the situation in Kashmir as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking amendments in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or its partial withdrawal from the state.
Omar, who flew in here and met Singh, also urged him to kickstart a political dialogue with the separatists at the earliest.
During the 45-minute meeting, Omar highlighted the need for amendments in the AFSPA to make it more humane.
"Yes, I have requested the Prime Minister to take a decision on amending the AFSPA or at best withdrawing it from some areas where it was not required. To begin with we may choose four districts in the state on experimental basis," Omar said after the meeting.
Omar said, "Some calculated risks have to be taken... let us see." Asked whether he was hopeful, he said, "If I am not hopeful, I won't be here."
On his meeting with PM, Omar said he had very good discussions with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.
The CCS headed by the Prime Minister will be meeting on Friday to discuss and take a decision on AFSPA, official sources said.
The Prime Minister had on Monday told editors that he would soon be calling a meeting of the CCS to "threadbare" discuss the Kashmir situation.
After the meeting with PM, Omar joined the 'Iftar' hosted by Singh at his official 7, Race Course residence.
While Omar remained non-committal about the districts, sources said that Srinagar and Ganderbal districts in Kashmir Valley and Jammu and Sambha districts in Jammu regions could be the first one from where the AFSPA could be withdrawn.
The Chief Minister also discussed threadbare a road map for its phased withdrawal beginning with the districts which have registered no or minimum violence during the past one year and in this context he gave examples of the four districts.
The Chief Minister said that there have been recommendations made by the Law Commission and Administrative Reforms Commission about the repealing of the act.
The Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Veerappa Moily, now Law Minister, has also endorsed withdrawal of AFSPA or at least incorporation of some measures which prevents giving sweeping powers to the security forces.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also constituted a committee headed by Hamid Ansari before he became the Vice President, to find ways for improving internal confidence building measures. The Ansari panel had recommended revocation of AFSPA in the state.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister also stressed on the need for a comprehensive political dialogue with all shades of opinion including the separatists, the sources said.
Omar also discussed the formulations for kick-starting the dialogue with the separatists who have been approached through back-channel efforts.
Besides resumption of dialogue with all shades of opinion and a review of laws, the Chief Minister also sought measures to deal with unemployment, the figure of which has gone upto six lakh over the years, a comprehensive package for people who have suffered during the present unrest and former militants who served their sentence and were without jobs, the sources said.
The sources said among other things discussed were the relocation of security forces and a fresh surrender policy.
The Chief Minister had earlier this week said that "status quo is the only option not available to us" which implied that some steps needed to be taken immediately for amendment of AFSPA and starting the dialogue process.
"This is unnecessarily being made a highly emotive issue which has led to extreme positions. I would like to request that a pragmatic view about the continuation of the AFSPA be taken with a view to removing its applicability from those districts where terrorist or insurgent activities are minimal or insignificant," he had said.
Comments
0 comment