New Delhi:
It slowly seems to be snowballing into a confrontation as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will reportedly go ahead with reducing areas under the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state despite opposition from the Defence Ministry, sources have told NDTV.
The Chief Minister is slated to meet with a high-level delegation from the Centre comprising the Cabinet, Home and Defence Secretaries tomorrow and is expected to discuss the efficacy of removing AFSPA. Meanwhile, a series of meetings on security will be held in Srinagar by the Central team including with the Northern Army Commander, followed by a meeting with the state administration led by the Chief Secretary.
Today's meetings as well as the proposed meeting with Mr Abdullah hold significance and have been necessitated after divergent stands on the AFSPA have emerged in the last two days. While Mr Abdullah, at a public function in Srinagar on Friday, said that AFSPA will be removed from some areas in the state over the next few days, the Defence Ministry yesterday, according to sources, surprised by the Chief Minister's statement, reportedly expressed its unwillingness for such a move.
"The time has come for the revocation of laws (AFSPA), which were invoked in the state after militancy, from some areas of the state within the next few days," Mr Abdullah had said addressing those gathered for a Police Commemoration Day function at Zewan near Srinagar.
He, however, did not name the areas from where these laws would be removed. "I am not in a position to name those areas at the moment," he had said.
Caught off-guard by Mr Abdullah's statement, high-level sources told NDTV that the Defence Ministry - on the advice of the Army - is opposed to withdrawal of AFSPA even from selected areas. It, though, is agreeable to a reduction in the visibility and presence of the Army.
The opposition to lifting of AFSPA stems from concerns of the Army, which is based on intelligence inputs and intercepts that it has received in the last 2-3 months. According to its estimates that have been verified by other agencies, around 2,500 militants are present in 42 training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok). Of these, 800 are poised to cross over to India. Around thirty odd militants have been killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in the last two months while attempting to cross over. Sources further say that intercepts indicate that infiltration attempts are likely to continue even during the winter months - a period when infiltration figures, otherwise, come down considerably.
But sources have told NDTV that the Army's opposition notwithstanding, the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government will go ahead from reducing areas under AFSPA.