Omar hopes govt will take 'serious look' at AFSPA | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Omar hopes govt will take 'serious look' at AFSPA

PTI | By, Srinagar
Oct 21, 2014 04:52 PM IST

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed hope on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take a "serious look" at the issue of AFSPA as the time was "opportune" to make progress on it.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed hope on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take a "serious look" at the issue of AFSPA as the time was "opportune" to make progress on it.

"Regardless of what happens over the next few months (due to elections), I do hope that the Modi government will take a serious look at this issue of AFSPA. And I believe, I believed even a few years ago but more so now, given the fact that there has been a steady improvement over the years, that this is an opportune time to make progress on that issue," Omar told reporters here.

For the past several years, Omar has been pitching for phased revocation of the controversial law that gives sweeping powers to the Armed forces involved in anti-militancy operations in the state.

The chief minister said though the situation in the state had shown a considerable improvement over the years, new "reasons were found" to not proceed on the issue of revocation of AFSPA.

"The situation showed a considerable improvement...Year on year, there has been reduction in militancy in double digits, percentage wise. If you take the base as 2008-2009, the decline in the militancy has been of the order of 60 to 70%.

"But unfortunately new reasons were found to not proceed on the AFSPA issue, particularly the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan. We were being led to believe that 2014 was going to be a very violent year for Jammu and Kashmir because the withdrawal of the international forces from Afghanistan would lead to a corresponding increase in militancy in J-K. (But) that didn't happen," he said.

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'None involved in ISIS flag waving linked with militancy'

Omar said none of the persons involved in waving of ISIS flags in Srinagar had any links to militancy.

"Police has conducted an inquiry into it and most of the people who have been found to be waving (ISIS) flags have been identified ... till now, none among them has been found to be related to militancy," Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The chief minister said a case has been registered against those involved in flag waving incidents.

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