New Delhi : National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that doing away with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) without considering all implications was against India?s security.
?We face a situation on our borders with Pakistan, we face a situation with China […] all things have to be considered with very great care,? he said, also mentioning the flares of insurgency.
?All these things have to be considered. You Just can?t play with the security of the nation,? said the 72-year-old union minister, in an interview to television channel CNN-IBN.
He said when it would be decided, it would not even take ?one minute? to remove the AFSPA and that he would forever keep hope that the act shall be repealed one day.
Negating speculation that the NC had been snubbed over one of its key demands, the union minister said that expecting special mandate from its ally, the Congress, in the presence of several other parties was expecting too much.
?In a meeting where there are forty people, you think the Government of India is going to come out and say ?yes, this is what we are doing?,? he said, referring to the all-party meeting meet here on Wednesday, where it was decided to send an all-party delegation to the troubled valley.
Visibly agitated at the questions suggesting that the NC was being undermined by the Congress, Abdullah said, ?There are certain things in politics which take time. I am not desperate.?
He also denied reports of ruffled feathers within his party against the central government. Earlier there were reports that there were voices within his party that demanded the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to heed to NC?s demands.
?There are no strains [between the NC and the Congress] at all. None, whatsoever,? he said.
Taking on people who were hitting out at the way his son, J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, was handling the crisis situation, the union minister said he was in full support of the way the situation was being handled.
?As far as I am concerned there is no deficit [in governance]. He (Omar) is doing an excellent job. In these difficult times I don?t think anybody can do better than Omar Abdullah […] is doing today,? he said.
?Do you think Kashmir is easy to govern? it?s a difficult problem, 60 years? problem; the young man is doing his best, as best as anyone can do,? he added.
Abdullah also denied rumours that he would take over as CM, saying, ?I have done my job, as best as I could.?