By IANS,
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday said that concrete steps would be taken for the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from some areas in the state this year itself.
“We will not have to wait till the end of the current tenure of my government (January 2015) to see the end of this act… some concrete and positive steps, I hope, would be taken this year itself,” he said, replying to a debate on the grants of departments under him. He also handles the home portfolio.
The chief minister’s reply took care of almost all issues raised during the debate by the opposition.
The issue of the repeal of the AFSPA had come into sharp focus after Omar made an announcement at a police function in Srinagar Oct 21 last year.
He said that the “black laws (AFSPA) would go from some areas in a few days”. He made the announcement and held a meeting of the unified headquarters Nov 9 last year where the army rejected the proposal.
Omar said that his insistence on the removal of the AFSPA was based on the assessment of the situation and substantiated it by stating that as compared to 2002, the militancy in the state “is not even 5 percent of” what it was at that point of time.