AFSPA is Mufti’s gift to people of JK: Omar Abdullah

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday said his party National Conference will not rest until the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is completely revoked from the State.
Addressing election rallies in Tral, Uri and Baramulla ahead of the third phase of polls on December 9, Omar said: “AFSPA has to go. Nobody—either in Delhi or in Srinagar—should have any doubt about this. I have sought the revocation of AFSPA as an elected Chief Minister of this State. I have made my stand known on the floor of the Legislative Assembly and National Conference has been consistent in its demand to see laws like AFSPA revoked. It is also a fact that the State President of our coalition partner publicly opposed the revocation of AFSPA by
saying that such an initiative would be premature,” Omar said.
He said: “It is also a fact that PDP preferred to sabotage the revocation of AFSPA by scuttling our efforts to build a consensus on this move. The BJP, which speaks of creating a conducive atmosphere for revocation of the law today, went into a jingoistic frenzy every time National Conference approached the UPA Government over AFSPA.”
Omar said PDP’s “apologetic stand on AFSPA is explicable given that it was Mufti Muhammad Sayeed who imposed AFSPA in J&K as the then Home Minister of India.” “How can PDP not be apologetic on AFSPA revocation when the Act’s imposition in the State is a brainchild of their patron? We understand PDP’s compulsions and constraints in choosing political, partisan expediency over siding with the people on AFSPA but (I) also assure them that National Conference will single-handedly fight for the revocation of AFSPA against all odds till the day the law is revoked from the State,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister lashed at out BJP for its “communal vitriol against minorities in India and Kashmiris in particular”, saying “the trend of BJP leaders unabashedly abusing minorities and humiliating Kashmiris is extremely alarming.”
Hitting out at Congress, Omar said: “Congress is trying to stay afloat in the State by playing the victim card and pretending that they were a suppressed part of the NC-Congress coalition government. Nothing could be more ridiculous than this. Not only did Congress have most of the works portfolios in the NC-Congress Government, they also got more space in policy decisions than was mandated by the numbers they bagged in the elections of 2008. Yes, we opposed the Food Security Bill adoption as proposed by the Congress and we are very proud for having succeeding in thwarting the bill as it would have deprived around two million people from within the State of free and subsidized foodgrains.”
Omar, who is also the NC Working President, said the Congress “opposed the creation of New Administrative Units and conduct of Municipal Elections at regular intervals. As opposed to what the Congress party might like to imagine today, if anything has let Congress Party down in J&K it is their own Ministers and Leaders who have fallen short of all possible political, moral and professional expectations.”
Omar asked people to cast their votes in favor of Muhammad Shafi Uri in Uri and Ghulam Hassan Rahi in Baramulla and “be part of a movement to protect the dignity and political stature of our beloved State.”