Meinya urges to repeal AFSPA
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 09 2016:
MP Dr T Meinya raised the issue of AFSPA and Irom Sharmila's stir in Lok Sabha yesterday.
He said, "I do feel that it is significant to mention about the marathon hunger striker Irom Chanu Sharmila, the Iron Lady of Manipur, who has been on indefinite fast for almost 16 years now.
During these days, she has been nose-fed" .
He said that Sharmila is still in the judicial custody and there is not even a slightest hint that she is ready to give up her fast.
Meinya said that the term 'Armed Forces Special Powers Act' is redundant, infamous, inhuman and most importantly terrifying in the so-called troubled regions of Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.
Insurgent activities and violence are the two fundamental premises which determine whether a particular area should be categorized as 'disturbed' or not, he said.
"I have been urging the Union Government for the immediate repeal of this infamous Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958.I am supported by the fact that as many as four Committees/Conferences, namely, the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee of 2005, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission of 2007, the Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir of 2007, and lately, the Justice JS Verma Committee of 2012 have recommended the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act", he said.
It is also a fact that many people had been killed in 'fake encounters', 'several cases of enforced disappearances', 'rampant cases of rapes' and 'custodian killings' had been recorded in the country because of this infamous military Act, he said and added that around 169 countries had recommended the repeal of this draconian Act.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that one of his missions is to rid India of a 'maze of useless laws' � India's archaic and obsolete laws which are seen by many as its most burdensome legacy, Meinya said.
The MP strongly urged the Union Government to immediately intervene and direct the Union Home Ministry to reconsider its decision to reject the Jeevan Reddy Committee report to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and order the immediate repeal of this law.