New Delhi: The Centre has completely ruled out either dilution or a partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from the Kashmir Valley. Credible information with the government suggests the demand to lift the AFSPA being propagated by the separatists is part of a well-calibrated strategy to weaken the security establishment.
The separatists, sources said, were aware that the local police was not competent to handle a crisis of the magnitude the Valley was now facing, and thus by raking up the demand to lift AFSPA they hoped to weaken security operations in the Valley.
Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag will visit the Valley on Friday to review the security situation. The Army Chief had a detailed meeting with home minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday, to review security mechanisms to check infiltration. The Centre has reiterated that Pakistan was behind the ongoing violence in the Valley and there was no possibility of any dialogue with it.
Separatists ‘want’ theocratic state
“The separatists want to use the country’s political system to pressure the security forces by getting rid of the AFSPA so that the Indian State is weakened. We can categorically say we will not allow this to happen. The separatists want to establish a theocratic state through violence means,” a top official said.
There are as many as 2,500 complaints pending against Army personnel over security operations in J&K, and if they aren’t protected under AFSPA, legal action will have to be initiated against all of them. An analysis of the current turbulence in the Valley reveals that the separatists, as part of their plan, want the stone-pelting mobs to compel the security forces to retaliate against them, in the hope of playing the “victim” card, whereas it is they who are provoking the violence.
