Can Abdullah emerge unscathed from AFSPA logjam?
Wednesday November 16, 2011 07:26:29 PM,
IANS
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Srinagar: Is it the
end of the road for Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah's proposal to partially revoke the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA)? Most Kashmiris believe so.
Having announced last month that the AFSPA would be withdrawn from
some areas of the state to begin with, Abdullah is today a lone
ranger campaigning for something he willingly or unwillingly
staked his credibility on.
"How does he move forward on his assurance from here? It is a
pretty unenviable situation. With the centre almost refusing to
grant his request for an immediate partial revocation, Abdullah is
in a political dilemma," said Muzaffar Ahmad, a college teacher
here.
"Would he scale down his earlier commitment? Would he stick to his
commitment and thereby take the centre head on? Both these options
are unlikely."
The man on the street, however, believes Abdullah will have to go
along with what he is told by New Delhi.
A state cabinet meet scheduled for Thursday to discuss partial
revocation of AFSPA has reportedly been postponed.
Abdullah's visit to Delhi where he met Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the army chief,
General V.K. Singh proved inconclusive. Abdullah has evidently
been given no concrete assurance regarding a timeframe for partial
revocation of the act, so it is now highly unlikely the state
cabinet would take a final call on the issue.
The knives are also out as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has blamed Abdullah for "enacting a
drama over the sensitive issue of the AFSPA".
Mehraj-ud-Din, a fruitseller in the Residency Road area of
Srinagar city, said: "It has always been the same story for
Kashmiri politicians in power.
"Delhi did not come to the rescue of Omar's grandfather, Sheikh
Muhammad Abdullah, even when he only wanted to change the
nomenclature for the governor and the chief minister's post to 'Sadr-e-Riyasat'
and 'Wazir-e-Azam'.
"They humbled his father Farooq Abdullah more than once when he
was in power and now Omar Abdullah learns his lesson the hard
way."
People in the countryside also believe that Abdullah should not
have taken Delhi's support for granted on this contentious issue.
AFSPA gives sweeping powers to the army to help fight insurgency
but has been blamed for human rights violations.
"He must understand Delhi has its compulsions, both political and
otherwise," said Shabir Ahmad, 43, who lives in north Kashmir's
Ganderbal district, the constituency represented by Omar in the
87-member state assembly.
"To give Omar credibility among his people would not be a priority
for the powers at the centre. They have other more pressing
reasons. Otherwise it is difficult to understand why there should
be reservations on a small goodwill gesture he wants to make in
areas where the army has not operated for many years now."
Bashir Manzar, editor of a local English daily here, said: "The
issue has been hyped to a level from where a turnaround would be
something the chief minister cannot politically afford.
"In the absence of a firmer response from the centre, Abdullah
could be on a solo flight seeking AFSPA revocation. His Congress
allies would now oppose any move on part of the state government
in the absence of a green signal from Delhi."
For the youngest chief minister of the country who is ruling its
most difficult state, a rollback on AFSPA's partial revocation
might not come in handy now.
Whether or not he can come out unscathed from the present
controversy would be yet another test of Abdullah's political
wisdom.
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