Click to play videoSrinagar: The big rift between the ruling coalition partners in Kashmir has now become overt. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has hit back at the Congress on the issue of the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.
Omar has told CNN-IBN that state Congress president Saifuddin Soz is free to discuss AFSPA at the coalition's coordination committee meet. Omar also says Home Minister P Chidambaram has been kept in the loop on the matter.
"If coordination committee wants to discuss the AFSPA issue, Soz as the head of Coordination Committee can call a meeting and discuss the matter in the committee. We will welcome their point of view. The Home minister was in loop on this issue," Omar said.
Earlier, Saifuddin Soz told CNN-IBN that Omar didn't consult ally Congress or the Home Minister on AFSPA.
"The Chief Minister had not consulted the Congress, its coalition partner, before announcing his plan to withdraw the AFSPA from select areas," Soz said.
With the Army and Omar Abdullah in loggerheads over AFSPA, Congress has distanced itself over Omar Abdullah's decision to roll back AFSPA from some areas in J&K, saying Congress party was not consulted.
Soz also said that the Chief Minister had no wide-ranging discussions with defence ministry and unified command.
"The decision is wrong if the country's Defence Minister is not consulted," he said.
Indicating that militancy is around and not out, and AFSPA can go if it is uprooted, Soz said, "Before we embark AFSPA we must ensure that Militancy completely uprooted."
"Omar should have taken defense ministry on board before making a comment," he said.
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