Panel discussion on AFSPA
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Dimapur, February 15, 2013:
Amnesty International India will organise a panel discussion in Delhi on February 18 regarding the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur.
Amnesty International India in association with St Stephen's College Delhi will organise a panel discussion titled 'Human rights and AFSPA: A case study of Manipur'.
The discussion will look into issues of human rights violations perpetrated by AFSPA, especially in the state of Manipur.
The discussion comes in the backdrop of an ongoing case in the Supreme Court where petitioners from Manipur submitted details of over 1500 cases of alleged fake encounters involving security forces.
This PIL led the SC to establish a 3-member commission headed by retired Justice Santosh Hegde to revisit 6 cases randomly picked from the 1500 cases submitted.
Their report observed that all 6 were fake encounters.
The case is still under review but the human rights community is hoping that this PIL would facilitate a renewed accountability push in Manipur and other states where security forces acting under the protection of AFSPA have been accused of widespread human rights violations.
The panel discussion would be moderated by former NDTV northeast bureau chief Kishalay Bhattacharjee.
The panel will consist of Babloo Loitongbam, executive director, Human Rights Alert, Manipur, Neena Ningombam, secretary, Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM), Major General (retd) Nilendra Kumar, former Judge Advocate General of Indian Army and G.Ananthapadmanabhan, chief executive, Amnesty International India The discussion will be held in the main auditorium of St Stephen's College, Delhi from 4 pm onwards.