15 July : The BJP has decided to raise in Parliament the issue of withdrawal of Central paramilitary forces from some sensitive areas of Jammu and Kashmir and demand sending of an all-party delegation to the state to examine the ground situation.The matter came up for discussion in the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting where a presentation on the situation in the state was made by some representatives of Jammu and Kashmir Vichar Manch, a group affiliated to BJP.
“Jammu and Kashmir Vichar Manch members briefed us…. there is no report which would suggest that there is a change in the situation there that would warrant withdrawal of armed forces from the state,” Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, S S Ahluwalia told reporters at New Delhi on Tuesday.
He said Parliamentary Party took the decision to raise the issue in Parliament during the on-going session and demand sending of an all-party delegation to the state.
Ahluwalia questioned the decision of Home Minister P Chidambaram to withdraw CRPF personnel from the state.
He said the Home Minster should have discussed the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir before deciding to withdraw the paramilitary forces. He also said the Home Minster should hold an all party meeting on the issue.
Separatist forces in Jammu and Kashmir have become active again. They had failed in the cities and so are becoming active in rural areas,” he said, adding the Army should be deployed in such regions.
Alluding to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Ahluwalia said demands for withdrawal of special powers vested in armed and paramilitary forces in the state should not be questioned.
The separatist forces had earlier tried unsuccessfully to prevent people from taking part in the elections.
BJP MP M Venkaiah Naidu also termed the decision of withdrawal of paramilitary forces as “anti-national”.
Naidu and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley spoke on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and how withdrawal of paramilitary forces would endanger the lives of locals and imperil security in the region.
Growing incidents of Naxal attacks in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states were also discussed by the BJP MPs in the meeting.
“We called it Left-wing extremism but the earlier UPA government — which was supported by the Left parties called it social and economic activists,” Ahluwalia said.