Click to play videoSrinagar: With the Army and Omar Abdullah at loggerheads over Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), the Congress has distanced itself over the Chief Minister's decision to roll it back from some areas in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir state Congress President Saifuddin Soz said that Omar did not consult the party before announcing that AFSPA would be removed from some parts of the state.
Abdullah's party National Conference is a coalition partner of the Congress in the state.
"The Chief Minister did not consult the Congress on AFSPA rollback," said Soz.
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.
Reacting to this, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that if the coordination committee wanted to discuss the issue, Soz as the head of the panel could call a meeting and discuss the matter.
He further said that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was "in loop on what is our intention".
Meanwhile, Chidambaram also chaired a high-level meeting with Home Secretary R K Singh and other senior officials over the issue.
The developments came after Omar reiterated his commitment to the removal of the AFSPA from some areas in the Valley, claiming that the decision was being taken in close consultation with the army and central paramilitary forces.
Omar had even reached out to the army, saying that it was playing a major role in anti-militancy operations in the Valley.
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