By IANS,
New Delhi: Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti Saturday said the security forces had done a “commendable job” against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and they should not be made to feel as if they were being pushed away by calling for the removal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
“We also want the black law to go. It is an article of faith for us. Security forces have done a commendable job. Give them an honourable exit. Don’t make them feel that you are pushing them away,” Mufti told reporters here, on the sidelines of the Hindustan Times Leadership summit.
She said she was opposed to the way Chief Minister Omar Abdullah handled the situation on the removal of the AFSPA, that gives sweeping powers to the armed forces fighting insurgency.
“He did it in a haphazard manner that took by surprise everyone including the army,” Mufti said.
The law has come under severe criticism from human rights activists and many political parties who allege that it was being misused in the name of collateral damage to civilian lives and properties by the Indian Army.
Abdullah has been advocating the removal of the law from selected districts of Jammu and Kashmir where militancy has been brought down considerably. Mufti called it a joke on the people of the state.
“Omar’s call for the AFSPA removal is a joke on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He is demanding the removal from the areas where the army is not even operating. What good it would do to the people,” she said.
“We need to have a general consensus on the removal of the act for good.”
She added that the chief minister was using the revocation of the controversial act as a “diversionary tactic” to divert the attention “from misgovernance and the rot and corruption coming from within the (Abdullah) family”.
Earlier she addressed the summit along with her rival and union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and Pakistani politician Asfandyar Wali Khan on “Settling Disputes for a Common Cause”.
Reading out from a prepared speech, she said reducing trust deficit between the people of the state and rest of India could be an important step towards settling the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
She said India needed to reform its politics in the same manner as it reformed its economy in 1991.
“We need to do with politics what was was done to economy in 1991. Get rid of the past,” she said.
She said Kashmir policies should not be drawn just with strategic concerns but keeping in mind values of democracy, freedom and rights.
“We need to accept that Kashmir is a problem. Peace is not a mere byproduct of India-Pakistan good ties. Subcontinental peace process has to walk on two legs – resolution of Kashmir issue and good relations between India and Pakistan.”
Khan echoed the sentiment. He said change in stated positions of political parties was required to move in the direction of settling the Kashmir dispute.
Abdullah, the chief of the ruling National Conference in the state, said India and Pakistan both needed to give up their claims on the parts of Kashmir ruled by the other.
“Pakistan has to accept the reality” that people of Jammu and Kashmir acceded “with their own will” to Mahatma Gandhi’s India where all Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs had equal right to vote.”
“Pakistan-occupied Kashmir also cannot be brought back. We are just not ready to accept the reality,” he said.
“Enough blood has been shed, enough hatred has been there. Let’s work on a new chapter now,” he said.