On the eve of the all-party meeting on Kashmir, the government today said it would continue to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir by offering to make the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) more humane, but was unsure how much political traction the proposal would have.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to send an all-party parliamentary delegation to Srinagar to interact with the people. He also favours an open session with the agitated people of Kashmir even if that means facing tough questions from Kashmiri representatives. Another proposal the government is offering is a grievance redressal system in the state that will address all the problems of the people relating to law and order. At least the people would feel perceived injustices could be addressed in a proper forum, home ministry sources said.
After the all-party meeting and the return of the visiting parliamentary delegation, the government will take a total view at another meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
At the CCS meeting on Monday, one view was that there was no need to even tweak the contentious AFSPA. “AFSPA is not an issue in this phase of violence. The people who are indulging in violence and the Hurriyat leaders who are inciting them have other issues. Their basic demand is to get azaadi (independence) and that is out of the question. So, why should AFSPA be amended, even partially?” asked a UPA minister present in the meeting.
However, home ministry sources said they would pitch for some amendments to AFSPA as a confidence-building measure, without detracting from the legal protection soldiers currently enjoy. This could be done away with, home ministry sources said.
These sources conceded that AFSPA, which allows armed forces to use all power to control insurgency “even to the point of causing death”, alone could not resolve the state’s problems. But they said the moves could win over the people of Kashmir, which was imperative in the current situation.
The government is prepared to listen to charges that the 17-month-old Omar Abdullah government had failed to deliver so far. But as part of political management, the Congress is clear that it will neither ask nor put pressure on the National Conference (NC) to change its chief minister. “We are the junior partner in the government in the state. What right do we have to ask the NC to change its leader in the Assembly?” asked a minister. Top sources in the government told Business Standard that Abdullah had already offered to resign at least twice in the past two weeks. He had told the political bosses in Delhi that if his removal could salvage the situation, he would have no hesitation in leaving the secretariat.
However, in Srinagar today, the chief minister denied he had made this offer.
The Centre is also not in favour of imposing governor’s rule in the state for now.
