Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will be lifted after peace is restored in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh made the remarks while addressing a national security conclave in Jammu. He is set to return to Delhi late in the afternoon.
Speaking at the conclave, he said that while the insurgency in the northeast has been controlled, left-wing extremism has also been tackled successfully.
He said AFSPA has been removed from large parts of the northeast.
“I am waiting for the day when permanent peace returns to Jammu and Kashmir and AFSPA is removed from here too,” he said.
Singh delivered a keynote address to the security conclave. The conclave is being held to deliberate on internal and external dimensions of the country's defence mechanism with focus on J&K.
In a tweet about the conclave on Sunday, Singh tweeted, “Tomorrow 26th June, I shall be in Jammu. Shall deliver a keynote address at a ‘National Security Conclave.’ Looking forward to it.”
The conclave is being held as part of the BJP’s month-long “Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan” to mark the completion of nine years of governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Sunday, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina told reporters on the sidelines of an event that the Defence Minister would talk about how India strengthened its defence in the last nine years.
Defence experts, senior media persons, retired senior army officers, senior BJP leaders, intellectuals and youth representatives have been invited to the conclave.
