Once again the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in limelight. It appears that the State is left with no other issue to go to the people for the coming elections except raking up of emotive issues to divert the attention. National Conference-Congress coalition had six years to press for scrapping of the Act but both remained confined to blame game. It was Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who announced the revocation of the law within two or three days on 21st Oct, 2011 in the aftermath of NC worker Haji Yousuf’s death under suspicious circumstances. With changes taking place and fortunes at stake such time-expired issues have few takers among the voters. Oscillating and vacillating stand of political parties on such sensitive issues have not done any good but on the contrary it has created confusion and chaos leading to more harm for the social fabric. On the contrary, even the Congress, which is also at the receiving end, has abandoned the Chief Minister. It is part of the government but has decided to go alone in the Assembly elections, thus upsetting the NC’s applecart. The compulsion to raise the issues like AFSPA is to gain maximum of 46 seats out of 87 in the Legislative Assembly. In the Lok Sabha elections, the NC could not lead even in 10 Assembly segments in Kashmir, including the segments Omar Abdullah and his uncle Mustafa Kamaal had been representing since January 2009. But it will not be easy for Omar to push the decision through. The Defence Ministry is opposed to withdrawal of AFSPA even from selected areas notwithstanding the fact that the army agrees to reduction in its visibility and presence. Rigid positions and a communication breakdown have led to a stalemate in Kashmir that does not show signs of ending any time soon, creating an unavoidable situation when peace appears to have tentatively arrived in the State.
