Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Saifuddin Soz today took on Union Minister for New and Renewal Energy Farooq Abdullah on the issue of the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) by stating that the Army was one of the stakeholders and not a stumbling block when it came to taking a decision on Kashmir.
Soz was reacting to the statement of Farooq, who had stated last week that there were many people in the Centre who too believed that AFSPA should go but only the Army was the stumbling block. “Dr Farooq Abdullah should not have said that. The Army is not a stumbling block but one of the stakeholders,” Soz said in an informal chat with mediapersons after a meeting with party workers here. He reiterated his stand that all stakeholders should be involved while taking a decision on the revocation of AFSPA.
“The Army should be taken on board before taking any decision on the revocation of AFSPA. The views of the Chief Minister should also be considered seriously because he heads the Unified Command, comprising the Army, security forces and the local police,” the JKPCC chief said.
Soz said AFSPA was a temporary law which should go, but he hastened to add that all stakeholders should be taken into confidence before any final decision on the issue. “When I said stakeholders, it means the Army, paramilitary forces, local police, etc,” he said while strongly denying that the Congress stand on the issue was not constant.
Farooq had demanded that AFSPA should be revoked from certain peaceful areas like Jammu, Samba, Kathua and some places in the Kashmir Valley.
Soz also toughened his stand on the urban local bodies elections. “As far as the Congress is concerned, it has been decided that the urban local bodies elections will be held by the end of June,” he said. This appeared to be a veiled warning against any further delay in the holding of elections by the coalition partner National Conference. The elections were due in February 2010.
“We were demanding that the elections should be held by the end of May this year but National Conference leaders sought some more time. So, we decided that these elections must be held by the end of June this year,” he said while quoting the decisions taken in the last meeting of the Coordination Committee of both parties.
He also announced that elections to the block development councils would also be held soon.
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