Srinagar: Reiterating his stand on controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that National Conference (NC) would not rest until the Act is not completely revoked from Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing election rallies in Tral, Uri and Baramulla in north Kashmir, Omar said, "AFSPA has to go. Neither Delhi nor Srinagar should have any doubt about this. I have sought the revocation of AFSPA as an elected Chief Minister of this State. I have made my stand known on the floor of the Legislative Assembly and my party has been consistent in its demand to see laws like AFSPA revoked."
"It is also a fact that the State President of our coalition partner (Soz) publically opposed the revocation of AFSPA by saying that such an initiative would be premature", he said, adding that the PDP chose to sabotage the revocation of the Act by scuttling our efforts to build a consensus on this move.
"BJP which speaks of creating conducive atmosphere for the revocation of the law today went into a jingoistic frenzy every single time National Conference approached the UPA Government over AFSPA," Omar said.
Meanwhile, hitting out at the BJP for its communal vitriol against minorities in India, Omar alleged that the trend of its leaders' unabashedly abusing minorities and humiliating Kashmiris was extremely alarming.
The working president of NC said PDP's apologetic stand on AFSPA was explicable given that it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who imposed the Act in the state as the then Home Minister of India. "How can PDP not be apologetic on AFSPA revocation when the Act's imposition in the State is a brainchild of their patron Sayeed," Omar asked.
"We understand PDP's compulsions and constraints in choosing political, partisan expediency over siding with the people on AFSPA but also assure them that National Conference will single-handedly fight for the revocation of AFSPA against all odds till the day the law isn't revoked from the State," the Chief Minister added.
Hitting out at its coalition partner in the state government, Omar said, "I'm also surprised at how Congress is trying to stay afloat in Jammu and Kashmir by playing the victim card and pretending that they were a suppressed part of the NC-Congress coalition government."
"Nothing could be more ridiculous than this. Not only did Congress have most of the works portfolios in the NC-Congress government, they also got more space in policy decisions than was mandated by the numbers they bagged in the elections of 2008," he said.
Rebutting allegations over not implementing Food Security Bill (FSB) in the state, Omar said, "Yes we opposed the Food Security Bill adaption as proposed by the Congress and we are very proud for having succeeding in thwarting the bill as it would have deprived around two million people from within the State of free and subsidized foodgrains."
"The Congress opposed the creation of the New Administrative Units and conduction of Municipal elections at regular intervals. As opposed to what the Congress party might like to imagine today, if anything has let Congress Party down in J&K it is their own Ministers and Leaders who have fallen short of all possible political, moral and professional expectations," Omar added.
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