J&K parties happy with Shah assuring to lift AFSPA in UT

Home minister Amit Shah’s statement that the Centre will consider revoking Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act AFSPA-IN Jammu and Kashmir came as a pleasant surprise to many people including some politicians in the Union Territory.

But some others – former chief minister Omar Abdullah being one among them- reacted with a sense of pessimism and said that it could be an ‘election stunt’ and a deliberate attempt by the BJP to hoodwink the people of the erstwhile state.

“I am happy the AFSPA will finally go. I hope Amit Shah will keep his promise and what he said is not an election stunt. But even if what he has said was said keeping in view the coming elections, I believe making and delivering on a promise is fundamental to democracy,” said Srinagar resident Mushtaq Ahmed Akhoon.

Shah, in an interview to ‘Gulistan News’, a TV news channel run by JK Media Group, has said that the government is apart from revoking the AFSPA in J&K also planning to pull back troops and leave law and order to the local police which was not trusted but today is leading operations in the UT.

Former chief minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti while reacting to the Home Minister’s statement quipped, aayad, durust aayad (better late than never).’ She said that her party has consistently demanded the revocation of what she termed as ‘draconian AFSPA’ along with a gradual pull out of troops. “It also formulated an important part of our Agenda of Alliance wholeheartedly agreed upon by the BJP,” she said. ‘Agenda of the Alliance’ was the common minimum programme arrived between the PDP and the BJP for government formation in Februarymarch 2015.

Mufti, however, also said that she wishes the Home Minister’s statement is not ‘jumlebaazi’ like generating two crore jobs every year or empty promises of depositing 15 lacs into bank accounts?’. She wrote on microblogging site ‘X’, “One can only hope that they fulfil their commitment, at least, in this case since it would bring a huge relief to the people of J&K”. She added, “To walk the talk perhaps MHA can start by releasing journalists and thousands of young Kashmiri boys currently languishing in jails without any charges or prosecution”.

National Conference vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah asked, “When they say that the situation is normal, militancy has completely ended and thought of separatism has disappeared too and the situation in J&K is better than ever then what are you waiting for? AFSPA should have gone long ago”.