PDP leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed (agency file)A new government in Jammu and Kashmir may bring relief for a woman who has been on a hunger strike for over 12 years in faraway Manipur. The talks between the PDP and BJP to form a coalition government after the voters returned a hung assembly for Jammu and Kashmir is almost at the conclusive stage, and PDP leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is soon to meet prime minister Narendra Modi to clinch the political deal, which will give political power to BJP for the first time in the state.
One of the issues being thrashed out between the two parties is relaxation of the armed forces special powers act under which the Indian army conducts internal security activities in troubled states like Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura. Irom Sharmila of Manipur has been on an only-liquids diet demanding that the armed forces should return to the barracks in her insurgency affected state. Similar has been the demand of regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir. National conference Chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar, as well as Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had made these demands.
But both the NDA governments under Vajpayee and Modi, as well as UPA government under Manmohan Singh had not relaxed the law. This was because the Indian army as well as the intelligence agencies had strongly opposed taking away the special powers which gave powers to search, cordon off and even kill civilians suspected to be terrorists. The army has said it cannot allow its men and officers to be charged with murder when they are doing national duty to rid the states of terrorists and their networks.
Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had been perceptive towards these demands, but the defence and home ministries sided with the army which said it cannot operate without the legal protection. Since the assessment was that neither the state police nor the central paramilitary forces could do the internal security job well in border states. The cabinet did not relax the law, even for one village or a locality in a city like Srinagar. BJP while in opposition had been opposed to any relaxation, as it says the army cannot be demoralised. But those who argued for removing AFSPA have been asking how long does the army require to bring the situation to normalcy. The last chief minister Omar Abdullah had insisted that the situation within the Kashmir valley had improved and incidents had come down. But he could not convince the army.
Now Modi is in a bind as Sayeed says the law should be relaxed to send a positive message to people. Sayeed also wants Modi government to resume talks with Pakistan, which were called off after the Pakistan High Commissioner invited Hurriyat leaders last year on the eve of foreign secretary level talks. Sayeed who has agreed to work hard for rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pundits, who were driven out of the valley in 1990, wants a programme for resettlement of refugees who have come from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, which BJP was earlier opposing.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar who has reopened the issue of army operations is talking to general Dilbagh Singh, the chief of army staff on partial relaxation of the armed forces special powers act. If the general and his officers mellow down,it would be a breakthrough for millions of people in border states, and especially for Sharmila, who is dreaming of a normal life away from police custody and force feeding of vitamins and other lifesavers.
Tailpiece: Prime minister Narendra Modi who skipped the swearing in ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal, is likely to attend the swearing in ceremony of Sayeed as chief minister and a BJP legislator as deputy chief minister.
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