PM, ministers to meet on Kashmir Monday evening
By IANSMonday, September 13, 2010
NEW DELHI - Amid strong opposition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to even partial revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and a volatile situation in the Kashmir Valley, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is slated to meet here Monday evening to discuss a peace package for the violence-hit region.
“The meeting is likely to held in the evening even though we have not announced it so far,” said an official in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is chairperson of the CCS, and Defence Minister A.K. Antony will be busy at the Combined Commanders’ Conference here in the morning. Antony said in Thiruvananthapuram Sunday that the CCS would meet Monday.
Besides the prime minister and Antony, the CCS comprises Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.
The BJP has warned the government against withdrawing the AFSPA from some districts of Kashmir. “Any such move will demoralise the security forces deployed in the state,” party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here Sunday.
A meeting of top leaders of the BJP, presided over by senior leader L.K. Advani, here demanded that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah be replaced by a “more acceptable person”.
