Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 16: Former Union Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz today said that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act should go from Jammu and Kashmir but only after the consultations with all stake holders including Army Generals.
The statement of Prof Soz came just two days after former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram termed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act as an “Obnoxious Law”. Prof Soz, slightly going soft today said the law needs to be revoked from J&K after consultation with the Army Generals.
“We don’t need it (AFSPA) anymore and it should go after taking on board the Army Generals,” Prof Soz told at a press conference here this afternoon.
Reacting to the statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that Congress and PDP did not support him on the issue of AFSPA, PCC chief said, “One should go through the statements of Omar Abdullah on AFSPA given on different occasions. Chief Minister is also the chairman of the Unified Command and he made an announcement that he would repeal the AFSPA without consultation with the Army Generals and other security establishments.
“How can he say that we did not support him for the revocation of AFSPA when he made an announcement without even consulting the coalition partners, the Army Generals or top police officers,” Prof Soz maintained.
Referring to the current security scenario, the PCC chief said that the situation in Kashmir has improved as the peace has started returning in Valley and the security agencies and the Central Government must take a call on the revocation of AFSPA.
“Peace is returning in Kashmir and during yesterday’s rally in Sonawari where I was on the top of an open vehicle, I did not bother about someone shooting at me. There is peace in Kashmir and I am hopeful that the Central Government will take a decision to repeal the law,” Soz added.
Responding to a question regarding the allegations made by Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh that the State Government did not act to flood situation in Kashmir despite the warnings given by the Center, he said that it was a “false propaganda”.
“Dr Jitendra Singh or Ram Madhav are not expert on the subject. The party is spreading a false propaganda. I was Union Minister for Water Resources and I can tell you that the magnitude of the floods was so much that no Government would have been able to do anything,” Soz said.
“The State Government submitted Rs 44,000 crore flood relief package to the Centre. If they are so concerned about relief and restoration work in Kashmir, they should have provided at least Rs 10,000 crore. What they think of the people sitting in the Government here. Are they not reliable or capable of handling relief work,” Soz maintained.
Launching scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he termed as one man running the Government, Soz said, “It is the one man of the RSS, who is running the entire Government. It is one man’s Government. Even the BJP is also under threat of disintegration as it has now come under direct control of RSS.”
On the issue of electing a Hindu Chief Minister after the upcoming Assembly elections in the State, Soz said “Congress is a secular party and we will let the elected representative decide about who would be the Chief Minister of the State”.
Commenting on the returning of Rs 9096 crore package meant for PoK and West Pakistan/ Chhamb refugees by the Modi Govt to State Government, Soz said that BJP was playing politics with the demands of the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Kashmir and West Pakistan.
Referring to the issue of Article 370, on which some BJP leaders recently gave divergent views, Prof Soz said, “Our stand on this is very clear. We have already mentioned that Article 370 is irrevocable and it acts as a bridge between the J&K State and the Centre.”
Follow our WhatsApp channel