National Conference discusses strategy for all-party meet

SRINGAR - The core group of Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference met here late Tuesday to discuss the party’s strategy for Wednesday’s all-party meeting on the ongoing Kashmir crisis that has claimed 88 lives, a party spokesman said.

Asked if the National Conference would step down from power if its demands were not accepted by the central government, party spokesman Sheikh Gulam Rasood said: “It will only be decided after the outcome of the meeting.”

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which met in New Delhi Monday, deferred a decision on withdrawing the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain parts of Jammu and Kashmir. This was one of the measures being considered to defuse the volatile situation in the Valley, where 88 people, mainly teenagers and youth, have died in violent protests since June 11.

The CCS also decided to convene Wednesday’s all-party meeting to consider the way forward in Kashmir.

Asked about Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being opposed to withdrawal of the AFSPA, Rasood said: “The BJP also opposed Article 370 of constitution but that is continuing here…so the outcome of tomorrow’s (Wednesday) meeting will not depend on the BJP’s stand.”

In response to another question, the spokesman said: “The continuation of the National Conference in NDA (National democratic Alliance) government after its autonomy resolution had been rejected was a mistake.”

The AFSPA gives army officers legal immunity for their action while operating in “disturbed areas”. The National Conference, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the separatists are demanding the lifting of AFSPA in the Kashmir Valley as they think it will help address the alienation among the Kashmiri people who feel this act has been abused by armed forces to inflict human rights abuses.