KOLKATA: 27 Feb 2018
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said today it is time to amend the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act currently in force in Jammu and Kashmir and some other states.
“There is a need to amend the AFSPA, if you cannot repeal it. The law and order should be entrusted to the Jammu and Kashmir police and not on the paramilitary forces,” Chidambaram, a former Union minister, said at a programme here.
The act gives the security forces special rights and immunity in carrying out various operations in disturbed areas.
There has been a long-standing demand from various quarters in J&K and the Northeast to withdraw it.
Chidambaram, also chairman of the panel on home affairs in the Rajya Sabha, said the presence of paramilitary forces in the northern state should be whittled down drastically.
