Jammu, Nov 9 (IANS): Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday disclosed that he had a brief discussion with union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from some areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah told reporters here that the "removal of AFSPA" would be "discussed at the unified command meeting" Wednesday evening. "Ahead of this meeting I had a telephonic discussion with Chidambaram last (Tuesday) evening," he said without giving details about the discussion.

Chidambaram and Abdullah are on the same page as far as revocation of the AFSPA in parts of Kashmir is concerned, while Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the army are opposed to it.

"The army is not deployed in certain areas, for example, it is not there in Budgam (central Kashmir district adjacent to Srinagar), so why should there be objection to its recall from such areas," Abdullah asked.

He said the matter would come up for discussion at the unified command meeting. "The process of consultations will continue, that's all I can say. The rest I don't want to prejudge at this moment."

Abdullah also defended the new recruitment policy, which gives reduced salary to new recruits for the first five years of service. "Let me ask a question to the youth: is it better for them to stay jobless for three-four years or have a job like this?"