Defence Minister A K Antony  called for the reduced footprint of the security forces during his two day visit to the Valley. He, however, had little to say about the revocation of AFSPA from the state or even its phased withdrawal from some areas. At a high-level security meeting, Antony made several right noises. He said there was no justification for the human rights violation by the security agencies while performing their duties. Even before his arrival, Antony had created a certain amount of goodwill for his visit by announcing probe into the killing of a youth in Bandipora by the army, overruling the army which had earlier said the youth was a militant. Overall, the visit has turned out to be routine. There has been little movement towards the repeal of AFSPA despite the Defence Minister’s acknowledgement of the peaceful situation in the state. “It is a good sign that peace is prevailing,” Antony told the meeting. But he stopped short of making any commitment on the lifting of AFSPA which should be a cause of disappointment for the state government. This means despite recognizing the steep decline in violence in the state, defence establishment is not ready to treat Kashmir normal. As its stiff opposition to revocation of AFSPA has underlined, Army is deeply skeptical about the current peaceful hiatus in Kashmir and sees a potential for a fresh spell of insurgency once the Afghan endgame nears. But while sticking to this theory, the defence establishment has ignored the current thaw in Indo-Pak relations and Islamabad’s willingness to deepen economic cooperation with New Delhi. And who can deny the fact that Kashmir has long ceased to be a battleground it used to be through nineties. People in Kashmir certainly expect a response to this change. Reducing the footprint of security forces is certainly a welcome step but sooner or later people in Valley would want it to culminate into withdrawal of AFSPA.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST