Will review withdrawal of AFSPA, says Omar
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said he will review withdrawal of the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the Valley after the visit of US President Barack Obama.
The CM said he has set up two committees for Srinagar and Jammu respectively comprising Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda and home secretary B.R. Sharma besides Corps Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps and Corps Commander of Nagrota-based 16 Corps to review the issue. He will chair a high-level meeting to review the demand soon.
“I think the time has come where we can start to objectively look at areas from where the AFSPA can be removed with the understanding that if there is a situation requiring the Army to intervene, we can make a temporary sort of return to that,” said Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
The CM, who wants to reduce the presence of security personnel in the Valley, said the state government has started moving back the forces. The recent dismantling of 16 bunkers in Srinagar was a first step, he said.
Observing that no right thinking person can turn around and ask revocation of AFSPA, Mr Omar said it is not possible when encounters with militants are still going on.
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Murder accused snatched from cops, lynched
AGE CORRESPONDENT
Patna
Nov. 7: A man arrested on charge of killing a CPI-ML supporter was on Sunday lynched by a mob that snatched him from police custody near Patna. In two other incidents involving political workers, a ruling JD(U) worker abducted by the Maoists was found dead and four JD(U) workers were injured in a clash with RJD workers.
Sonu Sharma, who was arrested on the suspicion of killing CPI(ML) supporter Rudal Manjhi at Narhanna village in Maner, was forcibly taken away from police custody by an angry mob of scores of villagers and then mercilessly beaten to death in presence of the police. Manjhi, a resident of a neighbouring village, was found dead in a field of crop on Sunday morning and Sharma was arrested hours later.
Tension prevailed in the village after the two deaths, prompting the police to set up a camp.
Police sources said investigations were being conducted for both the murders and that arrests would be made soon.
Amrendra Prasad, one of the two JD-U workers abducted by the Maoists during election campaigns on Friday, was found murdered in a school campus at Dumaria in Gaya district early on Sunday.
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