New Delhi, Feb 19: Jammu and Kashmir may have inched closer to government formation after BJP secretary Ram Madhav met Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti amid reports that the Centre may lift the controversial Armed Forced Special Powers Act in two districts.
Talks between the ideologically-divergent partners have been deadlocked for over a month after chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death on January 7.
The Centre may agree to lift Afspa – that gives legal immunity to army personnel – from Srinagar and Kathua districts where militancy declined in the past decade, reports said. This could not independently confirm that the two parties has agreed on withdrawing AFSPA.
This was a key demand of the PDP, which is against the controversial law that many activists blame for rampant military violence and rapes in the Valley.
The offer to lift Afspa on a trial basis came as some PDP leaders suggested the raging row over sedition charges on Jawaharlal Nehru University students for allegedly commemorating 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was affecting alliance talks.
