Abdul Hameed Khan replies: India’s image as the biggest democracy in the world is robust and well known. India has vigorously promoted democratic practices all along, without exception. Every constituent of its government structure as well as all the established political parties have shown profound respect to it. This goes to establish India’s democratic approach towards all of its states and territories.

Vivek Chadha replies: The spate of terror attacks in the recent past has taken place not only in J&K, but also in the neighbouring state of Punjab, as evident from the Gurdaspur terror strike. A number of reasons could be ascribed to these strikes. First, Pakistan is confronted with a new government in India, which has clearly announced a more robust approach to Pakistani misadventures, both along the Line of Control (LoC) and inside India.

Vivek Chadha replies: The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or the AFSPA is imposed in areas where armed forces are required to operate in aid to civil authorities. However, for AFSPA to become valid, an area needs to be declared disturbed either by the central or the state government. This is because under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the army does not have the mandate to carry out operations and the powers to arrest, search premises, etc., are only with the police.