Srinagar, June 06 – Peoples Democratic Party today held demonstrations and staged Dharnas at all the district headquarters of the state apart from Srinagar and Jammu to press for revocation of AFSPA and removal of army and paramilitary forces from internal security duty and civilian areas in Kashmir.
In Srinagar the party president Mehbooba Mufti led the demonstration at the Municipal Park and was accompanied by a large number of workers holding banners and placards with slogans demanding revocation of AFSPA and sending forces back to the barracks. Senior leader and Vice president of the party Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari led the demonstration in Baramulla, In Anantnag Mohd Rafi Mir, Mansoor Hussain and other senior leaders led the huge demonstration, while in Bandipur General Secretary Nizamuddin Bhat led the large number of demonstrators similar demonstration were held in Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Pulwama, Kupwara, Banihal , Ganderbal and Doda.
Addressing media persons at the party headquarters, Mehbooba Mufti said it was her party’s belief that time had come for the forces to go back to barracks and their special powers to be scrapped. She said the state was on way back to normalcy and a resolution of conflict through diplomatic and peaceful means but the heavy presence of troops in civilian areas and their unbridled powers were coming in its way.
Mehbooba said forces had to be deployed at a time when the situation demanded it in view of a large number of militants operating here. Now according to government’s own reports there are no more than a few hundred gun wielding young men in the entire state she said and added that the presence of a large number of troops was unnecessary.
Referring to the number of incidents of murder and rape that have occurred in different parts of the state in which security forces were the alleged perpetrators Mehbooba said since the man in uniform had no battles to fight any more they were become a source of constant friction with the civilian population. She said almost all villages and towns were heavily militarized and it had become almost impossible for civilian institution to function in an atmosphere of freedom. She said the people had repeatedly voted in large numbers for civilian setups but election was not the only component of a democratic system. It is time that the state government, its agencies and the civil society are allowed total freedom to operate without the security forces breathing down their neck.
Mehbooba said the gains of peace process initiated in 2002 were apparently vanishing as a result of the confrontation between the civil society of Kashmir and security forces. No amount of good intentions or diplomatic initiatives she said could bear any fruit unless any society in Jammu & Kashmir thinks and works in tandem. For that it is necessary that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh responds to the situation in an adequate manner.