Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was misleading by commenting that the Opposition party will remove immunity of the armed forces under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) if voted to power. He asserted the Congress manifesto only States that there would be no immunity for armed forces only in cases of “enforced disappearance, sexual violence or torture”.
Chidambaram sought to know whether Modi supports “enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture”, the allegations which are common in areas where AFSPA is in force. “Mr Modi is lying when he says that Congress will remove the immunity to armed forces. Congress Manifesto says there will be no immunity only in cases of enforced disappearance, sexual violence or torture,” he said in a tweet.
In another tweet, he said, “Mr Modi must also answer this question: why did he totally withdraw AFSPA from Tripura, Meghalaya and three districts of Arunachal Pradesh?”
The Congress and the BJP have been engaged in a war of words over the former’s pledge in its manifesto to review the AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir. The prime minister had on Friday accused the Congress of hurting the morale of the armed forces by seeking a review of the AFSPA in Jammu & Kashmir.
“What will happen to the country (if they do so)? You are committing the sin of removing the protective cover from the security personnel for votes? Shame on you for your politics. Any terrorist can file any kind of FIR against the Army and security personnel if the AFSPA is withdrawn,” Modi had said.
The controversial AFSPA gives a degree of immunity from prosecution to the security forces deployed in “disturbed areas”.