AFSPA suggests government is run with the help of Army: J&K minister

A Jammu and Kashmir minister on Tuesday claimed there was no need of laws like the AFSPA which give an impression that the state was being run with the help of army.

"There is no need of such laws which give impression that you are running a state with the help of army," J&K Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters in Jammu.

"We are doing everything through democratic means, be it elections or setting up of a civilian government here. And now we are holding civic elections democratically and empowering panchayats.

"Even after that if there is a need for such a law, I do not feel that it matches the democratic spirit and democratic system of this country," Naeem said.

"Such incidents (terror attacks) take place even as the AFSPA is in force in the state. It is not that attacks have stopped because we have the AFSPA for the last 25 years," he said.

"What administrative measures we need to take, what legal protection we need for the security forces and how we have to get out of this? That is a long drawn battle," he said.

On the NC's efforts to revoke the controversial act, he said, "Omar Abdullah talked about revoking it within three days. It is not like that. This issue needed a debate at the national and state levels and the debate is on." The minister said the PDP-BJP government "would try to take everybody on the board while we talk of AFSPA revocation."