Army Chief General Bikram Singh on Monday warned of spillover from Afghanistan inJammu & Kashmir in 2014 when US troops are scheduled to withdraw from that country and cautioned that tampering with AFSPA in the State may endanger the security scenario.
“We need to look at developments in Afghanistan in 2014 before we can look at perhaps tampering with or diluting the disturbed areas (act). This is in regard to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu & Kashmir,” he said.
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General Singh also said it would be prudent to “wait and watch for a while” before taking a call on AFSPA.
“As per military’s perspective, (in view of) the situation prevailing in the Valley, I think we should wait for a while to see whether the situation remains the same, worsens or improves. Based on that we should take action,” the Army chief said.
In a word of caution, he said perhaps there may be a certain amount of spillover from Afghanistan into Jammu & Kashmir. “There are certain inputs alluding to this already. And, therefore, we need to be on guard,” he said at a press conference on the eve of the Army Day on January 15.
Asked about the statement of Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan that AFSPA should be lifted from Jammu & Kashmir, General Singh said as a matter of principle, “I never comment on statements of political leaders….Our national perspective is that it is our country, Jammu & Kashmir is our state and nobody should have any doubts about it. We are implementing the national strategy and the army is playing its role as part of that.”
Bhushan has batted for the lifting of AFSPA, saying it gave the army immunity in cases of human rights violation while causing alienation amongst the people. APP has dissociated itself from his remarks.