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The Centre does not want to keep the military in Kashmir “for long” but a decision on removing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will be taken only after some time, says Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
He also wants to meet separatists in the state including the Hurriyat conference leaders “to understand what they really want“.
“I don’t want to keep the military for long. Certainly security should be reduced, but this is not the proper time.
We will still have to watch for some time,” Shinde told PTI in an interview.
The Minister, who visited Jammu and Kashmir last month after taking over the Home portfolio in July, was asked about reducing the footprints of the security forces.
He said the security situation in the state has improved but hinted that the recent attacks in Srinagar and outskirts of Jammu city were proving to be a spanner in moves to reduce the strength of security forces in the state.
“But see we had some information even today also, the recent incidents of attack on the hotel and the wine bar... these are sundry incidents but still we have to be very careful as for us it’s a case of once bitten twice shy,” he said citing possible reasons coming in the way of early reduction of security forces.
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