A debate may be raging now on withdrawing the AFSPA,but the Centre has been working with the Jammu and Kashmir government to review the notification of the Disturbed Areas Act in some areas to enable the revocation of the law that gives special powers to the armed forces. Official sources said the announcement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Disturbed Areas Act would be revoked from some areas of Jammu and Kashmir was in accordance with the September 25,2010 decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security. The CCS,headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,had last year taken eight decisions including appointment of a group of interlocutors to begin the process of a sustained dialogue with all sections of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It also decided to request the state government to immediately convene a meeting of the Unified Command and to review the deployment of security forces in the Kashmir Valley,especially Srinagar,with particular reference to descaling the number of bunkers,check-points etc,in Srinagar and other towns,and to review the notification of areas as 'disturbed areas'. The announcement of the chief minister was part of that decision of the CCS. The political leadership will now have to take a final view, a source said. The interlocutors have already submitted its report to the government last month after their year-long deliberations. The other decisions of the CCS were to advise the state government to immediately release all students and youth detained or arrested for stone pelting or similar violations of law and to withdraw the charges against such students and youth.
