New Delhi, Sept. 14: A consensus appears to be slowly building up against the continuance of Mr Omar Abdullah, as the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, a day before a crucial all-party meeting is held here on Wednesday on how to tackle the situation in the state.
The BJP and the Left parties have been openly attacking the Omar government for days over his failure to handle the growing crisis in the state, but now the Congress (the coalition partner in Kashmir) is also beginning to distance itself from the embattled Chief Minister.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security is expected to be held shortly after the all-party meeting, which is likely to discuss what confidence-building measures the government could adopt in Kashmir. Sources said the CCS might also consider dilution of certain provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), with the government reportedly not averse to the idea.
The AFSPA has turned into a political hot potato, with the Omar government and some other parties demanding at least its partial withdrawal in Kashmir in order to defuse the situation.