Congress' demand discussion on AFSPA understandable: P Chidambaram

Home Minister P Chidambaram found nothing wrong with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's move to remove Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) but felt the Congress demand for more consultations on the issue was "perfectly understandable".

The Centre expected Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to come back after state Cabinet review, he said maintaining that the review of application of AFSPA in the state was part of an eight-point agenda of programme decided by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) last year for restoration of normalcy in the state.

There was "nothing unusual or new" if the Chief Minister of the state wants to quicken the process of review of AFSPA, Chidambaram told reporters, adding there was nothing wrong with that.

However, he said, if Congress, an ally of the coalition government in the state, desired "more consultations" that was perfectly understandable. There could be more consultations in the Cabinet too. In a democracy, we can have consultations any number of times, he said.

The Minister said the process of review of is a CCS decision and this is not not something unusual. "Let the Chief Minister come back to us after conducting a review.  This is a CCS decision and I am part of the CCS," he said.

After the Chief Minister's recent announcement on the government's keenness to partially withdraw AFSPA from some areas of the state, JK PCC Chief Saif-ud-din Soz has complained that Omar Abdullah has not consulted his party.

However, another state Congress Minister Taj Mohiuddin had said that he had been consulted.