Army chief meets Omar Abdullah over AFSPA issue

Wrapping up his productive visit to the national capital, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a meeting with Army chief General V K Singh this morning during which the two discussed AFSPA and security-related issues.

The breakfast meeting with Gen Singh was the last among a series of interactions the Chief Minister had with central leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

41-year-old Chief Minister has been pitching for partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain areas in the state which have witnessed very little violence.

Both sides remained tight-lipped about the meeting, and Omar only twitted on micro-blogging saying "Off to Jammu now. Last engagement was breakfast with the COAS Gen VK Singh. That wraps up this Delhi visit."

The Army chief had called on Governor NN Vohra on Sunday here and the two discussed the situation in the state for nearly an hour.

The Chief Minister has been camping in the national capital for last two days during which he met the Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last evening.

After the meetings, Omar tweeted on the micro-blogging site "had a meeting with Soniaji this evening. Overall very productive day-long consultations."

Omar also met Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday morning. The Chief Minister had said yesterday that his main purpose of the visit here was to arrive at a workable solution.

"Obviously the effort is to narrow the differences between what we could like to see happening and what the army has so far publicly stated as comfortable to let it happen," he observed.