Srinagar:
A high-level Central team, led by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, has met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his top bureaucrats for the second day to discuss all issues including the proposed withdrawal of the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain areas.
Before meeting the Chief Minister, the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary had another round of discussion on the security scenario with Northern Army commander and his three Corps Commanders posted in Kashmir.
There were a series of meetings on Sunday as well with all stakeholders in Kashmir on development projects and a review of the security scenario with top Army commanders.
While Mr Abdullah, at a public function in Srinagar on Friday, said that AFSPA will be removed from some areas in the state over the next few days, the Defence Ministry on Saturday, according to sources, surprised by the Chief Minister's statement, reportedly expressed its unwillingness for such a move.
"The time has come for the revocation of laws (AFSPA), which were invoked in the state after militancy, from some areas of the state within the next few days," Mr Abdullah had said addressing those gathered for a Police Commemoration Day function at Zewan near Srinagar.
He, however, did not name the areas from where these laws would be removed. "I am not in a position to name those areas at the moment," he had said.
Caught off-guard by Mr Abdullah's statement, high-level sources told NDTV that the Defence Ministry - on the advice of the Army - is opposed to withdrawal of AFSPA even from selected areas. It, though, is agreeable to a reduction in the visibility and presence of the Army.
The opposition to lifting of AFSPA stems from concerns of the Army, which is based on intelligence inputs and intercepts that it has received in the last 2-3 months. According to its estimates that have been verified by other agencies, around 2,500 militants are present in 42 training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok). Of these, 800 are poised to cross over to India. Around thirty odd militants have been killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in the last two months while attempting to cross over. Sources further say that intercepts indicate that infiltration attempts are likely to continue even during the winter months - a period when infiltration figures, otherwise, come down considerably.
But sources have told NDTV that the Army's opposition notwithstanding, the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government will go ahead from reducing areas under AFSPA.