A day after Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed proposed to take senior Army officers on board before starting the gradual process of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain areas of the State, the State Government on Tuesday sparked off a fresh controversy claiming that the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) 1997 has lapsed and is not in force in the State.
The revelation came to light when Chairman of the legislative Council Amrit Malhotra rejected a resolution regarding revocation of Disturbed Areas Act. The resolution was moved by Dr Bashir Ahmed Veeri of National Conference.
Giving valid reason why the resolution was rejected Chairman of the Upper House noted, “the State Government has informed that Jammu & Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act 1997 was valid for only one year and has lapsed on October 7, 1998”. “At present the DAA is not in force in the State. Therefore the resolution submitted by you for the revocation of DAA has been disallowed,” Additional Secretary to J&K legislative Council in a written reply said.
Dissatisfied with the response, the National Conference member pressed the issue. He also walked into the Well of the House seeking discussion on the matter by adjourning the business. During the noisy protest, the Chairman once again made it clear to the senior member a complete reply has been submitted to you in response to your resolution.
Instead of acknowledging the direction from the chair when NC member persisted with his protest he was marshaled out of the Upper House on the directions of the Chairman. Earlier on Monday Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had reiterated the resolve of his Government to undertake denotification of areas of DAA in a gradual way in bid to remove AFSPA.
“Some areas will be denotified from Disturbed Areas Act with the consent of Army officers - I cannot do it in one go - but I will do it,” Mufti had told legislative Council. latching on to the controversy Opposition parties National Conference and Congress demanded clarification from the State Government and urged them to make its stand clear on the status of AFSPA in the State.
Commenting on the controversy and confusion regarding the applicability of AFSPA in the State, BJP State spokesperson Farooq Khan said that the said Act is very much in force and no area has been denotified for the purpose of the applicability of this Act. “The debate is uncalled for and politically motivated”, he said.
Farooq Khan, while explaining the issue, said that Disturbed Area Act (DAA) 1997, which is under discussion has no relevance whatsoever with the continuation of AFSPA in J&K State.
Official spokesman of the State Government late Tuesday evening issued a clarification claiming J& K Disturbed Areas Act 1997, a State act, has ceased to exist w.e.f 7 October 1998 in the State. However, the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990 continue to remain in force in the State and the presently notified Disturbed Areas in the state have been declared so under this act.
J&K Disturbed Areas Act,a State act, enforced in the State in 1990, gave powers to Magistrates and police officers not below the rank of inspector and sub-Inspector, in case of the armed branch of the police to deal with militancy effectively in areas to be notified as 'Disturbed Areas' under the provisions of this Act.The act of 1990 came to be replaced by the J&K DAA 1992 and the same was substituted by the J&K DAA 1997 which came in to force on 7 October 1997.