Centre to revoke AFSPA Act, reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the Centre is planning to revoke the controversial AFSPA Act and pull back some troops from Jammu and Kashmir.

With Lok Sabha elections approaching, Amit Shah also said that the government will leave law and order to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

In an interview with Jammu and Kashmir-based Gulistan News, the BJP leader said, "We have plans to pull back troops and leave law and order to the Jammu and Kashmir Police alone. We are strengthening the police, who are at the forefront during the encounter…We will definitely consider this proposal (revoke the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. The situation is being normalised".

According to Shah the troops will move gradually from the union territory and go to the barracks. The government has designed a seven years blueprint, Shah added.

The AFSPA gives armed forces personnel, operating in disturbed areas. An area or district is notified as disturbed under the AFSPA to facilitate the operations of the armed forces

In the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the Modi government is boasting some of the crucial actions it took in the past five years as it eyes to regain the regime for the third time. The list of tasks that the governemnt is boasting about includes the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre has maintained that since the abrogation of Article 370, terrorist activities have dwindled in the region significantly.

The Union Home Minister also told in the interview that under the garb of Article 370, the youth were "pushed down the path of terrorism" in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is marching ahead with "peace" since its abrogation nearly five years ago.