Srinagar: A day after Army Chief General Bikram Singh advocated continuance of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir, ruling National Conference today said the controversial law had lost its relevance and should be phased out in a time-bound manner.
“National Conference is of the opinion that AFSPA has lost its relevance. The law has achieved what it was meant for in the first few years after its implementation in 1990. AFSPA should be phased out and that too in a time-bound manner,” NC Additional General Secretary Mustafa Kamal told reporters here.
Kamal, brother of Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and uncle of J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, said there is no justification for the continuance of AFSPA.
“The Prime Minister has himself supported the view that militancy has gone down in the state. The Chief Minister has said there has been a lot of improvement in the situation and the footprint of the Army needs to be lessened. NC president Farooq Abdullah has said that the Army should be withdrawn from areas where it is no longer needed,” he said.
