Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday asserted that the “power of veto“ vis-à-vis revocation of Disturbed Area Act/ Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) was with the state government only and “not with anybody else.”
In the press conference jointly addressed by him and his father, Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah after the National Conference Working Committee meeting at the party’s headquarters, the chief minister was replying to the queries pertaining to defence minister A.K. Antony’s recent statement dismissing demands for the withdrawal of AFSPA. Yet in the same breath, the chief minister sought to explain that there’s “no jhagda, there’s no fight.”
“The state government and the Central government are reading from exactly the same page. Therefore, both the Centre and the state believe that it’s an opportune time to start reviewing this process and start the gradual roll back. Nobody’s suggesting an overnight change,” he maintained.
Mr Omar Abdullah pointed out that this was important to understand that what was happening was in consonance with the recommendation of CCS which put forward eight recommendations, including the review of the DAA.
“And Antony is also the member of CCS that made the recommendations on the basis of which these committees have been set to examine DAA. So I don’t think there is any scope for someone suggesting that there are any differences. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has been very keen to start the process of rolling back those laws that are not required in the places where the militancy is much less as compared to the past. Fortunately the government of India is also thinking on the same lines and we’ve the full support of Prime Minister, AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Union home minister and defence minister,” he claimed.