Don’t remove AFSPA from Kashmir: Jaitley
October 28th, 2011 - 9:51 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley Friday said the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should not be removed from any part of Jammu and Kashmir as this will affect security.
Days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah suggested withdrawal of the act from certain parts of the state, Jaitley, who is also leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said any such move will strengthen the separatists.
“The withdrawal of this law (AFSPA) would leave the administration of the unprotected districts only in the hands of the local police and thus incentivising the separatist and violent groups to increase their activities in these areas,” Jaitley said in a statement here.
“It would, therefore, be politically more prudent for the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir not to initiate a debate at a stage when circumstances still warrant the continuation of the operation of the law,” he said.
The BJP leader also said that any scrapping of the law, when security forces were in favour of its retention, would be highly imprudent.
“When the security forces are in favour of retention of this law, it would be highly imprudent to allow anyone to seriously argue that political considerations require that this law be withdrawn or its enforcement be restricted only to certain areas,” he said.
Abdullah last week said that AFSPA will be removed from some parts of the state as situation improves.
- Need to remove AFSPA from parts of Kashmir: Omar - Nov 09, 2011
- Omar for denotifying disturbed areas in Kashmir - Dec 02, 2011
- AFSPA shadow on Jammu Unified Command meet - Nov 04, 2011
- Four attacks injure four in Kashmir - Oct 25, 2011
- Armed forces act to go from some Kashmir areas: Omar - Oct 21, 2011
- AFSPA: Omar meets PM, Chidambaram; no time limit, says Antony - Nov 15, 2011
- Omar meets Antony on AFSPA ahead of state cabinet meet - Nov 13, 2011
- Omar to raise repeal of AFSPA at CMs' meet - Apr 14, 2012
- Centre can repeal AFSPA: Kashmir government - Sep 03, 2011
- Defence, home ministries to decide on AFSPA: Army - Jan 15, 2012
- Cabinet discusses AFSPA, reviews situation in Kashmir - Oct 27, 2011
- AFPSA beomes a contentious political issue - Sep 13, 2010
- Removing AFSPA no reflection on army, says Omar - Oct 27, 2011
- Omar disagrees with army chief on special powers act - Jan 02, 2012
- Consensus on AFSPA unlikely at all-party meeting - Sep 15, 2010
Tags: afspa, armed forces, chief minister, circumstances, continuation, favour, jammu and kashmir, kashmir, leader of opposition, New Delhi, political considerations, rajya sabha, security forces, separatists, violent groups