Tingplik Express

On May 22, 1958, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was passed by Parliament. After three hours of discussion in the Lok Sabha and four hours in the Rajya Sabha, the AFSPA was approved even though several Members of Parliament opposed the Act.
Dimapur, May 21 (TEN): Today is the 50th Anniversary of the ‘ignoble birth’ of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958. On May 22, 1958, the Government of India promulgated the infamous ordinance for what was declared to meet the challenges of resistance movements in north-east India, with particular reference to the Nagas and certain regions of the then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA).
The AFSPA is a mutation of another ordinance, Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance, promulgated by the colonial British on August 15, 1942, to contain the uprising of the Quit India Movement. The Indian Parliament subsequently converted the British ordinance into the AFSPA on August 18, 1958, and assented September 11, 1958.The AFSPA concedes extraordinary powers to the armed forces.
Two of its most ignoble clauses are the power to arrest without warrant and sanctions even a Non-Commission Officer (NCO or basically, a jawan) to shoot-to-kill on the basis of mere suspicion. And under the Act, the army has impunity – no persecution can be initiated for whatever act. With the sanction of the AFSPA, the army has been responsible for gross violations of human rights in the region.
It had taken only three hours for the Indian Parliament to enact the Act in the Lok Sabha and four hours in the Rajya Sabha. On the 50th anniversary of the AFSPA, India’s civil society is meeting on May 22, afternoon at the Indian Press Club. The objective is to initiate further debate and to affirm the urgent need to repeal the black law. A panel discussion and a Press Conference shall also be held later, it was informed. Chaired by Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and Lokayan, the panelists are member of Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee Sanjoy Hazarika, Dr Bimol Akoijam of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Ravi Himadri of The OtherMedia, Shabnam Hashmi of the ANHAD and Indira Jaising, a constitutional expert. The initiative is supported by the National Alliance for Peace Movements.
Member of the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee, Sanjoy Hazrika, demanded nothing more than total repeal of the act. “It is an act that should be scrapped without any further ado” he said. It was reiterated that atrocities and inhumanity had direct sanction under the AFSPA against the people of the north east, and Nagaland and Kashmir in particular. He said the reason behind several high-committee recommendations for repeal being rejected was the government of India not having the courage to implement the recommendations.
Mention may be made here that the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee was instated by the PMO to explore the possibility of substituting the AFSPA with a so-called “more humane” Act. The committee submitted its report June 6 in 2005 and recommended that the Act be repealed. Similarly, the Administrative Reforms Committee headed by Veerappan Moily also recommended on June 26 last year that the Act should be scrapped. Even the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had in February 2007 also recommended that the Indian Government immediately repeal the AFSPA. The AFSPA remains.
‘The government of India does not have the courage to implement the reports. The military must also have the courage to step back,’ Hazrika said remarking that lawlessness has been created in the name of law, courtesy of the AFSPA. Reiterating that the Act be scrapped without further ado, Hazrika also scoffed at any chance that the Indian government would shift its stance on the Act.
Ravi Himadri of The OtherMedia said that the Act has only been counter-productive for India, rather, it is only worsening the ‘situation.’ “India should realize the dynamics involved in handing over a region to the military. It is not the solution. It has only been counter-productive. It is only worsening the situation” Himadri said. Rather, the government should take the approach of dialogue and confidence-building measures. He also blamed the Indian military for rejecting all recommendations saying it has been specified overriding powers which the forces cannot give up. The military and state police forces cannot give these powers up, he said. Himadri also took exception at Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s ‘all rhetoric’ and ‘no action.’ “You cannot push economic reforms without settling the political issues in a land” Himadri said.
Dr. Singh on November 1 in Manipur in a meeting with a delegation of the Apunba Lup had assured to “consider how a more humane Act can be put in place.” The umbrella grouping of 32 organizations spearheading the campaign against the AFSPA in Manipur was told by the PM that “a more humane Act can be put in place,” with his belief that it would be possible “to work together with the people of Manipur to write a new chapter in the history of the State.” Taking note of the rhetoric, Himadri also demanded total repeal of the Act, no less.
General Secretary of the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) Dr. N Venuh said that the Center would never respond even if recommendations are made. He said that the Act would never be able to ‘control’ peoples’ movements, rather, only compound the problem on the more. “I don’t think they (GoI) will respond. It is a policy of the Indian Military. Crores of money and benefits are given in the name of the AFSPA and its actions in the northeast, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir. So they (military) want the Act to continue” he explained. The NPMHR wants nothing less than removal of the black law.
General Secretary of the Naga Hoho, Neingulo Krome is no exception. “If May 22 is 50 years anniversary of the Armed Special Powers Act, then we can also say that it is 50 years of darkness. There has been nothing but suffering; thousands of lives have been lost in the NE and Kashmir” the General Secretary stated. He also said that it is the Indian military that does not want to back down to engaged unlimited owners just to be in control. “We don’t need one (Act)” he added reiterating the Naga Hoho’s stance against AFSPA.
With the inception of the Act, ‘state terrorism’ was unleashed on the people of North East. The people of Punjab state experienced the inhumanity of the black law during the uprisings in the 1980s and Kashmir remains under it since 1990. Comparatively, however, it is the northeastern people who have been the AFSPA’s favorite victims for the last 50 years.