NC-Cong govt must clarify stand on AFSPA: BJP

BJP today asked the NC-Congress government in Jammu and Kashmir to clarify whether it still endorsed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's demand for partial revocation of AFSPA in the wake of repeated terror attacks.
"The NC-Congress government should clarify its stand on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)," BJP's state unit chief spokesperson Jitendra Singh said in a statement here.
"In the wake of a series of terror attacks in last few days, do the members of the coalition ministry still continue to endorse their chief minister's demand what he describes as partial revocation of AFSPA from districts like Samba, Jammu and Srinagar which have repeatedly been the targets of these attacks," he said.

Congress owes an explanation on another account because its ministers have been publicly supported continuance of AFSPA but they have remained silent on the issue during the cabinet meetings with the chief minsiter, he said.
The events of last one week have evidently exposed that the demand for revocation of AFSPA is "baseless", Singh said.
The BJP leader said that AFSPA offers a protective mechanism to security forces to defend themselves against a terror attack and also confers certain special powers to them to apprehend a terrorist on the run.

Ridiculing the suggestion for "partial" revocation of AFSPA, he said this is a strategically fallacious proposition.

The areas that resultantly do not come under the purview of AFSPA are likely to be used by terrorists and their sponsors to recoup and re-launch operations, he said.
Partial revocation of AFSPA from some areas or districts may trigger a chain reaction of politically motivated demands for its withdrawal from other areas as well, Singh said.