Rafiabad, Nov 30: Reiterating his stand on AFSPA, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday said that with the onset of peace in J&K the partial revocation of the Act has become inevitable and talks in this direction have reached a decisive stage.
“There has been a good development over the issue of partial revocation of AFSPA with Centre. With peace prevailing in the state this law has to be repealed from selected areas of the state,” Omar said addressing a large public gathering at Rafiabad in district Baramulla of North Kashmir.
He said that for the past three years his government was trying hard to bring peace in the valley and 2011 was an example of this endeavour. “With the onset of peace, we are not only trying to accelerate the pace of development but also to reduce the influence of CRPF and Army in the state,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that his government is determined to ensure that peace dividends reach to people in all fields of life and they are actively involved in the process of development and political stability.
Apparently referring to the Mufti regime, Omar said his government does not believe in bogus slogans like healing touch or providing employment to every member of the family.
He said though previous regime could have easily reduced the number of security forces or made PSA-like laws soft but instead they raised concrete bunkers and allowed human rights violations in the state. He said even youths were deprived of passport and kith and kin of militants were barred from government jobs during that period.
He said his government changed such a scenario in the state, removed 40 bunkers from the city and towns and reduced the presence of security forces in the valley. He said there is no restriction now on the issuance of passport and doors of relatives of militants are not closed for jobs. He said that even the return of youths from Pakistan Administered Kashmir will be made fast.
“We have enhanced the role of Jammu and Kashmir Police in the maintenance of law and order”, he said.
He said with the improvement in situation, there has been increase in the pace of development works in the state. “New colleges have been opened, people’s grievances are being heard and it is because of the cooperation of the people that we have been able to introduce laws like Public Services Guarantee Act.”
He urged people to take advantage of the PSGA which will not only check corruption in the departments but also make officials accountable. “This law has been introduced in six departments in the state and officials have to ensure that grievances of people are heard within a stipulated time otherwise they will be held accountable and as a punishment their salary will be deducted,” he said amid applause by the audience.
“My government aims at transforming Jammu and Kashmir into a Model State in the country where justice, equitable development, rule of law and peace with development will rule the roost”, he said.
On empowerment people, Omar Abdullah referred to the strengthening and implementing of Right to Information Act (RTI) giving right to the common people to ask questions about financial and physical status of schemes and functioning of the government departments. He said while this would bring transparency in financial transactions and other aspects of the government functioning, it will also help restrict malpractices to a greater extent.
The public meeting was also addressed by Minister of State for Home, Nasir Aslam Wani, and Minister of State for R&B, Javid Ahmad Dar.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST