National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah accused BJP leader Gen (retd) V.K. Singh of sabotaging the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during the UPA-2 government when he was the Army chief.
"The home minister remembers AFSPA now. I fought for it (revocation of AFSPA) since 2011 when I was the chief minister. Where from did its opposition come from? It was Gen V.K. Singh, who was his ministerial colleague, and who was the chief of armed staff when I was the chief minister.
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"Shah sahab, ask him (Singh) why did he stop the process to revoke AFSPA. Why did he sabotage it then? Why did he say that the Army will not accept it? Today, you are befooling the people that you will revoke AFSPA," Mr. Abdullah said, addressing the party workers in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.
The NC leader said the Union home minister should first ease the public movement on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
"We will see about the AFSPA later, but at least ease the movement of people on highway and we will be grateful to you for that. As for now, stop the armymen from stopping our vehicles, harassing us on the highway when convoys passes through. Then we will accept that you can revoke AFSPA," he added.
The former chief minister also said the Union home minister should start by releasing prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir who are languishing in different jails across the country.
"Many of our youth are in jails outside the state. Release them first. They have started a new process now of forcing the children and grandchildren of separatists to publish advertisements in newspapers. You are repeating the era of which we have faced the brunt when our and Congress workers were forced to quit politics by announcing in newspapers," he said.
Mr. Abdullah was referring to the public notices published in the newspapers recently in which Ruwa Shah, granddaughter of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and Sama Shabir, the elder daughter of Shabir Shah, owed an allegiance to the sovereignty of the country.
Later, speaking to reporters, Mr. Abdullah said it was regretful that the Union home minister remembered about AFSPA now.
"We have apprehensions that the way the people of Ladakh were befooled on Sixth Schedule, the same will happen with us. When the parliamentary polls conclude and the BJP loses all the five seats, they will forget about AFSPA," he said.
