J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday goaded the Centre to gather some courage and take risk of revoking Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from some of the peaceful areas of the State.
Hitting out at the Centre for ignoring the loud ‘hue and cry’ made by the State Government against executing Afzal Guru, the Chief Minister dared Centre to accept the challenge of revoking AFSPA on trial basis for a period of at least six months from the State.
Speaking in the State Assembly on the motion of grants of various departments under his charge Omar said, “If you can hang Afzal Guru ignoring our pleas and warnings I just fail to under stand why you cannot gather courage and do the same by revoking AFSPA from the peaceful districts of the State”.
“These are sentiments of the people of the State. I am not playing politics over this issue”, Omar said adding people are raising questions in the wake of hanging of Afzal Guru.” We cannot run away from these questions.We have to find answers sooner or later”.
Omar said, “I am not a messenger of God Almighty. I may be wrong in my assessment of the security situation in the State. My colleagues can misread the situation as well. But at least you can take the risk. Accept the challenge and revoke it from some areas for a period of six months and see what happens. Omar said Afzal Guru cannot be brought back to life but you can always reverse your decision on AFSPA if it backfires.
Omar said that the fidayeen attack at Bemina is a glaring example for those who oppose AFSPA revocation because this attack took place even in presence of AFSPA law and CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police who deal with law and order and militancy simultaneously, combated the attack successfully and killed the militants in which five brave personnel of CRPF were martyred.
Omar said, he would continue to pitch for gradual revocation of AFSPA as he is confident that it would be for the interest of the State and the Country. “I have been asked that if Government of India does not recognize and agree to me on this issue then I should leave the power. What service will it serve”, he maintained and said that in power he is in a better position to bat for revocation of AFSPA with authority and vehemently which he could not do otherwise.
He said that revocation of AFSPA has been recommended by the Working Group on Confidence Building Measures and Working Group on State-Centre Relations headed by Justice Sageer. He said all the major political parties including those who oppose revocation of AFSPA at present were represented in these two Working Groups constituted by the Prime Minister.
Speaking about the political resolution of the issue of Kashmir Chief Minister said “The Kashmir issue exists and no one can deny it. It is not necessary we agree with each other’s viewpoints but at the end of the day we all want to address this political issue and resolve it amicably”.