'Repeal AFSPA demand is for all'
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, December 02 2013 : The struggle for the repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is not an individual struggle for Shramila or for that matter Manipuri people or the people of the North East and Jammu & Kashmir.

But is a struggle for anyone and everyone who cherishes democratic values and oppose militarism, Babloo Loitongbam, the Executive Director of Human Rights Alert, Manipur, has asserted.

Participating in a State level seminar on the topic of "Armed Forces Special Powers Act - Nation's People's and Women's Security" organised by India Social Action Forum (INSAF) at Tamil Sangam Hall in Puducherry today, Babloo pointed out that what started as a state of exception in the Naga Hills in 1950s has engulfed the whole North East and Jammu and Kashmir over the years.

There is already a proxy AFSPA in the naxalite affected red corridor.

If we do not reverse this process, the exception will eventually become rule for the whole country and India will be no different from Pakistan.

Director of Human Rights Alert Babloo Loitongbam

"People in Manipur are under military rule under the guise of democracy.

The AFSPA came to be in force in Manipur in 1958 as a temporary measure to tackle insurgency in the Naga Hills.

Now that there are sophisticated police and intelligence agencies and able civil administration, the AFSPA should be withdrawn.

In the name of national security, the rights of people cannot be trampled upon for 55 years," he said.

Recalling the rape and brutal murder of Thangjam Manorama, a 32-year-old woman, in Manipur in 2004, Babloo Loitongbam said that even nine years after the incident the State inquiry commission has not filed any report.

"Indian democracy is in danger because the political class is caving in to pressure of the army.

The brutal force of military was being used to subjugate democracy and strangulate the civil society in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.

If the AFSPA is not withdrawn in Manipur and other places, 10 years down the line military brutalities will spread across the country," he contended.

At the outset of the seminar attended by more than hundred activists and journalists from across Puducherry, Prof..AMarx, writer and Convenor of People's Union for Human Rights, who chaired the session, gave a detailed background on the genesis of AFSPA and the people's struggle to repeal the Act and pointed out that Acts such as AFSPA affects the fundamental rights of citizens at large.

"In most cases, the judiciary ignores public voices against such laws with an observation that the Acts are enacted and implemented by the government with wisdom.

AFSPA and similar acts can only be in force during extraordinary situations and not all the time," he noted.

Among other speakers in the seminar, R.N.Ravi, Retd.Director of IB for the North East, elaborated how AFSPA has become an Act of war when applied in "disturbed areas" where the entire population is treated as suspect.

Strongly advocating that the Act has not place in a democracy, Ravi said that it is a national shame that after 60 years of independence, we are still struggle for its repeal.

He asserted that in 25 years of serving as a part of the government he could not change the system and the civil society from outside in the only hope to make a difference.

Heri Tiphagne, Chairman of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM ASIA) narrated his experience of participating in the festival of Hope, Justice and Peace organised on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Irom Sharmila hunger strike in 2010 .

The National Human Rights Commission should voice its opinion against the AFSPA in public.

It was only after persistent efforts by many that the members of NHRC visited Manipur recently and interacted with Irom Sharmila, who is protesting against the AFSPA for the past 13 years.

Nearly 350 persons were killed by the army in Manipur every year till recently.

The death rate declined only after the widows' association of Manipur moved the Supreme Court against the extra-judicial killings, he said.

He also pointed out how the various UN human rights bodies have consistently recommended repeal of AFSPA and asserted that if India wants to claim for its rightful place in the world as the champion of human rights and democracy it has to get rid of AFSPA.

Sugumaran, Convenor of Federation for People's Rights, Punduchery, also narrated his experience of being a part of national fact finding mission in the aftermath of the rape and murder of Thangjam Manoram in 2004 .