Omar Abdullah's statement on AFSPA gains criticism

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's statement that he would work for the revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives security forces sweeping powers to search, arrest or shoot people, has received much criticism among political sections on Monday.

Chairman of regional Awami Itihad Party (AIP) and a legislator from Langate, Engineer Rashid said that Omar Abdullah is trying to fool people with such false statements.

"First of all you should solve the basic issues related to Kashmir. Tomorrow when there is a normal incident, then you would require Armed Forces Special Powers Act. And secondly, Omar Abdullah is just lying, fooling people. Whatever he says, he never does and whatever he does, he never says," said Rashid in Jammu.

The Kashmir region has witnessed numerous militant attacks, insurgency and infiltration attempts from across the border in the last two decades.

Human rights groups say the AFSPA is a draconian law, which the military arbitrarily uses to violate civilians' rights.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jugal Kishore Sharma said the statement is political in nature as the state is still one of the militarised zones of the country.

"I think this is a political game. If you want to remove Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), first create an atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir as the state still does not come under the regions which do not have it. We still don't have peace here and many incidents happen on a regular basis. A few days back, the Director General had also said that there are few militants who are waiting on the other side of the border, who are waiting for the snow season to end to cross the border. Even the legislators, the block president and politicians walk with their guards and they have escorted cars; black commandoes also walk with them. So how will you remove the AFSPA? So first of all for this to happen, these people mentioned before should forget about their security," said Sharma.

As Abdullah's statement became a point of debate, National Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh, said they have been making the same statement since many years and what the Chief Minister has announced is not something new.

"This is a clear way of playing politics. It has already been almost five years since we have started saying but nothing has been done on this. Anyways, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is a necessary provision, which gives protection to the Army during difficult situations. If these powers are taken away from them it would lead to a crisis situation in the state," said Singh.

Among other powers, AFSPA allows security forces to fire upon, or use force against an assembly of five or more people, or anyone in possession of a deadly weapon. It gives legal immunity to the officials, so they can be neither sued nor prosecuted.

"I have always had this consistent opinion that in situations when the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was imposed, then according to the security experts and the military establishments, there has been a lot of change in it which is visible also. That is why we have also demanded all the time that there should be a proper surveillance as it had been imposed keeping certain objectives in mind and then accordingly steps should be taken to make it the same with the proposed objectives," said a leader belonging to Communist Party of India (Marxist), M.Y. Tarigami.

National Conference (NC) party leader Sheikh Mustafa Kamal said that all recent human right violations are the outcome of AFSPA.

"How many human rights violations have taken place by the security forces? It has happened all because of Armed Forces Special Powers Act," he said.

Furthermore, People's Democratic Party (PDP) Chief, Mehbooba Mufti said this statement is made keeping in mind the upcoming parliamentary elections and political gains by the leader.

"If you want to do something, then you can do anything. But if you do something cosmetic, keeping in mind the upcoming elections and make certain announcements and make it for the election stunt, then we do not have anything to say," she said in Jammu on Monday.