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| Army clarifies its chief's remarks on AFSPA | | |
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, June 27: In a damage control exercise, army today sought to clarify its chief Gen VK Singh's remarks on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) by claiming that these had not been "understood in the correct perspective".
Even as the Centre prepares to make AFSPA, that gives sweeping powers to army in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast, "more humane", the General has gone on record to voice his opposition to any changes, saying demands for dilution of the Act were being made for "narrow political gains".
His comments came in the backdrop of prime minister Manmohan Singh's promise to make the Act more humane. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has already sent a note to the cabinet on diluting the Act.
Affirming that "all those who ask for AFSPA's dilution, or withdrawal, probably do so for narrow political gains," Gen Singh had said that any dilution "will lead to constraining our operations against terrorists".
In a statement issued here, army said Gen Singh had told a defence journal in April that "AFSPA must be understood in the backdrop of trying conditions a soldier is operating in the militancy-infested areas in J&K and North East."
The statement said the army chief's comments were "primarily in context to the local politics in J&K with special reference to the separatist forces who are inimical to the interest of the nation.
Their sole aim is to demoralise the security forces. "The army statement did not mention that J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and other mainstream political parties had also been pressing for dilution of the Act, a demand that intensified in the recent weeks following killings of three Kashmiri youth by army in a suspected fake encounter in Machil in Kupwara district on April 29.
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