Centre struggles to find ‘elusive starting point’ for a dialogue with protesters; AFSPA amendment/repeal unlikely.
Finding the “elusive starting point” to open a dialogue with the protestors in Kashmir is likely to be the main agenda of Wednesday’s all party-meeting convened by the Centre.
The meeting will discuss issues such as diluting or selectively repealing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to tide over the Kashmir crisis. But given that BJP and several others parties are opposed to withdrawing or amending AFSPA, the Act is unlikely to be touched, at least for the time being.
The only development that happened in the cornered government’s favour ahead of the meeting was that PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed air-dashed to the capital to attend it. PDP had rejected prime minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal to participate in a similar meeting convened by chief minister Omar Abdullah last month.
Government sources told DNA that there was scope for amending the Act, but that was unlikely to happen considering the sentiments of some political parties, particularly BJP. “There is more to the meeting than AFSPA,” the sources said.
There are indications that the government may moot a road map for dialogue with different sections of society in J&K and seek suggestions from political parties on the same. “Once the elusive starting point is achieved, the dialogue will have to be started on three fronts — in the three regions of the state [J&K], rest of India and at the international level,” sources said.
The meeting is also slated to discuss measures aimed at reaching out to the people of Kashmir. The first and foremost would be discussing the possibility of an all-party delegation visiting the state, sources said.
Given the emergent situation in the Valley, the all-party meeting is likely to be followed by another cabinet committee on security meeting. BJP has raised the pitch for removal of Omar, but the government may not concede. Omar’s clarification in Srinagar that he was not quitting is a pointer to that.
Defence minister AK Antony may have declared that “we will not delay decision on Kashmir”, but a decision does not appear on the horizon. Particularly after army chief General VK Singh told DNA “AFSPA was needed for troops to operate in disturbed areas” and air chief PV Naik stressed on the need for legal protection to troops operating in disturbed areas.
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