Supporting the peace initiative of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah on Monday demanded repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and punitive measures against officials involved in custodial killings.
“Innocent killings should be stopped immediately. Let the security forces fight the militants and stop targeting civilians,” Shah told reporters after an 80-minute meeting with the Centre's interlocutor, K C Pant, in New Delhi.
Shah said that implementation of the AFSPA in disturbed areas virtually gave a license to security forces to kill anyone.
Stressing that the fight against militancy should be limited to terrorists only, Shah said that the Centre should make sincere attempts to show that it was interested in resolving the Kashmir issue.
Stating that his party, Jammu and Kashmir people's democratic freedom party, would never shy away from the Centre's unconditional offer of talks, Shah said, “As a confidence building measure, the Centre should repeal all draconian laws, put an immediate end to custodial killings and set free all persons held in illegal detention.”
Bureau Report