Jammu:
As the controversy over the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) continues, senior BJP leader L K Advani today jumped into the ongoing debate, hitting out at Jammu and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for calling for a partial revocation of the military law in some parts of the state.
Addressing a rally in Jammu as part of his nationwide
Jan Chetna Yatra, Mr Advani, while firmly opposing Mr Abdullah's proposal, lamented the way the "Army is being demonised".
"The situation is represented as if there is a big problem in J&K. The soldiers are sensitive by nature, they get hurt", Mr Advani said.
Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, BJP leader Arun Jaitey - who was also present at the rally - said that the former had initiated an "irrelevant" debate on AFSPA's withdrawal from select areas in the state without understanding the intricacies of the insurgency in the state.
"This Act doesn't just protect the Army but also the CRPF. For the last six days, the discussion started by the Chief Minister on the revocation of AFSPA is an irrelevant one. It's not possible for the Army to fight militancy on one hand and to get trapped in unnecessary litigations at the same time", Mr Jaitley said.
The issue of AFSPA has generated much political heat in the last few days, especially after an adamant Omar Abdullah seemingly sent out the message of going ahead for the Act's revocation in some parts of the state. This after his government failed to reach any consensus with the Army at the meeting of the Unified Command over the issue. The confrontation reached a crescendo when Mr Abdullah told the Army that "
no is not an option".
The Chief Minister, though, seems to have softened his stance a bit after he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday in a bid to "narrow down differences". He had also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi later that evening as also senior ministers in the Cabinet to discuss the issue.
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