The sudden killing of Th. Manorama Chanu by personnels of 17th Assam Rifles in July 2004 led to a strong protest against this draconian act in Manipur. This was subsequently followed by naked protest in front of the historic kangla palace by some elder manipuri(meitei) women shouting the slogans like "INDIAN ARMY TAKE OUR FLESH","INDIAN ARMY RAPE US"etc.

Many protest rallies, dharnas, conferences and seminars were held all over India and abroad discussing the inhuman nature of AFSPA and the acts of demonised Indian Security Forces in Manipur under the banner of AFSPA. Student bodies organised similar protest in every nook and corner of india which led to "do something syndrome" thereby forcing the govt. of india to form the C. Upendra Commission to look into the rape case and another AFSPA Review Committee under the leadership of Jeevan Reddy(Retd. Judge Of Sc).

The Committee was floated to soothe the hearts of lakhs of anti-AFSPA people all over the world. Many human rights groups operating in India as well as many international organisations like amnesty international, Asian human rights commission and UN human rights committee had also expressed the genuine desire to repeal the said act or to erase the inhuman clauses which are incompatible to democratic principles.

It is very much clear to the policy makers in India that this act is violating the democratic principles and values. But they don't care about the rights of the millions of people in J&K and Noth-east. They care much for the national integrity and securiy of India.

The jeevan reddy committee which was formed to review the AFSPA has come out with the proposal of repealing the said act to incorporate some of its provisions in the unlawful activities (prevention)act,1967. The proposal has been outrightly rejected by the Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The reddy committee was simply an eyewash or a safety valve to divert the instant angry of the anti-AFSPA people. The govt. of India must go beyond the military means of subjugating and solving the problems in N-E. The N-E is today rising against the govt. of India for their legitimate rights and liberties. where there is no justice and freedom , there can be no democracy.

The pogram in Gujarat againts the minority muslims , the killing of thousands of sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi murder, and policy of ethnic cleansing in N-E & Kashmir are true picture of indian democracy. Even after around 60 years of India's freedom , the govt. of India cannot treat the north-easterners on equal par with the mainlanders.

India knows the threat posed by the illegal immigrants and outsiders to the minority Tripuris, Assamese, Cacharis, Nagas and Manipuris; but wont act as they want N-E to become an economically vibrant zone inhabited by Bengalis, Biharis, Sikhs and other groups. However, India govt. cannot tolerate the killing of some Hindus in J&K, demolition of temples in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Fiji.

What is this???? Obviously, india will like to safeguard the territorial integrity of India and its unity, no matter there are no more Assamese, Tripuris ,Manipuris..etc. AFSPA was passed in the parliament of india after a brief discussion of four Hrs in rajya sabha and 3 hrs in lok sabha. This act Armed Forces Special Powers(Asom & Manipur) act, 1958 and its twin sister AFSPA( Jammu & Kashmir),1990 are the gifts of the british colonial rule in India.

Under this act the british govt. tried to suppress the Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 during the WWII. The britishers exploited the indians under this act and now the indians are exploiting the innocent kashmiris and the north-easterners. This act is helping the majority Bengalis and other outsiders ot wipe out the minority Tripuris in Tripura.

In Asom , many innocent peoples had been killed , maimed, raped and molested. Similarly, in Nagaland many people had been killed, maimed, many women raped and molested. But they have some respite due to the present ceasefire agreement between the india govt. and the naga militants which started from 1997. The greatest brunt of the act is now faced by the people of Manipur. Our lives have been degraded to the lowestby this act.

AFSPA,1958 came to manipur during the peak years of Naga revolutionary movement in neighbouring Nagaland and the Naga inhabited hill districts of Manipur viz., Tamenglong, Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel. This Act was extended to entire Manipur state with the rise of valley militancy and the mizo revolution in lushai hills. When the so-called naga tribes were facing the burnt of AFSPA in the hills of Manipur, the meiteis had no taste/little taste of AFSPA due to many reasons known and unknown.

Some of the reasons are meiteis had no awareness/little awareness about the AFSPA, as it has become very common only after the Manorama incident. Those who know well about AFSPA thought it to be very important to curb the naga revolutionary movement which threatened the territorial integrity of manipur . Again, the meitei society had no strong organisations like the present UCM, AMUCO, APUNBA LUP,..etc. but we need to condemn all kinds of human rights violations in Manipur without any reservation on the basis of ethnic , linguistic,and religious differences.

Now the time has come to work together against the ill designs of the india govt. in this region. The rape of a naga sister/assamese/manipur/tripuri/bodo sister should be protested with a united stand.

AFSPA is such a dreadful creation that it makes an ordinary sepoy or a havildar of CRPF an all powerful demon. When the security forces meant for providing security to the citizens are demonised by acts like AFSPA,1958, it is not their fault. The responsibility lies with the policy makers in Delhi who want to terrorise the innocent people of Kashmir and N-E. There are many rights , liberties,and constitutional safeguards given to all the citizens of india without any discrimination on the basis of caste, race, place of birth, languageand religion.many foreign experts appreciate the written constitution of india;but the question is whether these rights , librties are fulfilled without any proper implementation. Periodic election and a voluminous constitution with no implementation is a big nonsense. Those fundamental rights liberties , freedoms,are negated by the sections given in the ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT,1958. Su these regions do not fall under the jurisdiction of the constitution. The N-E And Kashmir have no constitutional binding upon them due to its negation by the AFSPA.

These states are in the political maps of India for they are the colonised territories of india. In N-Eand J&K , AFSPA makes the security personnels more powerful than the constitution as well as the highest seat of judiciary i.e.,the supreme court of india. The political status of j&k and N-E can be found between politically beyond the Indian state or colonised states of India. The supreme court of India ordered the armed personnels to follow some "do's and don'ts" when AFSPA was challenged ; but they hardly follow it.

Thus it is very clear to all that the security forces are more powerful than the Supreme Court of this largest democracy in the world . SC of India also has no jurisdiction over N-E AND J&K ; it is not independent of the legislature & the executive.. The concept that Supreme Court is the guardian of the constitution is negated by the forces of anti-democracy prevailing in N-E and kashmir.

AFSPA violates many international human rights treaties as well as many approved regional standard of human rights like the universal declaration of human rights, 1948, international cocenant on civil and political rights, 1966, international covenant on economics, social and cultural rights, 1966, and the european union's human rights declaration.

India is also the signatory to many international human rights treatiesbut also does not hesitate to violate the same. The danger of AFSPA is unlimited as any person can be killed and blamed to be the member of one or the other UGs. With some documents, wireless set , gun ..etc. a brilliant student today will become the victim of AFSPA and also a terrorist if he/she got killed in fake-encounter. No person is a civilian in the eyes of AFSPA.THis is the rule of AFSPA and one cannot easily seek for justice.

It is widely said that justice delayed is justice denied; no justice is given to thousands of victims who had been raped ,molested, or those who had disappeared involutarily ,or those who had been maimed by third degree methods of torture. The threat of AFSPA is not only the extra judicial killing, involuntary disappearances, rape, molestation etc., but the political game of some of the security forces operating in Manipur.

Recently, some kuki-chin groups had signed the no-firing agreement with govt. of India. The major naga groups are also having ceasefire with the govt. of India since 1997. The problem lies not with their ceasefire agreement but the intentional designs of some of these groups who try to wipe out the valley based UGs in collusion with the govt. of India. This may lead to ethnic repercussion thereby threatening the ethnic harmony among the ethnic groups. The banner like "Assam Rifles:the Friends Of The Hill Peoples" is quite condemnable keeping in mind the ethnic tension prevailing in Manipur.

It won't be wrong to say that AFSPA CAme to manipur when the militancy problem was encircling the state. If there is no revolutionary movement in manipur, the govt. of India may repeal the act from Manipur. Thus the argument is that AFSPA was imposed due to revolutionary movement. When this argument arises ,we need to go back to the pages of history.

The 1949 India-Manipur merger agreement signed by then tutilar King Bodhachandra of Manipur has to say a lot. A telegram was sent to Sardar Patel by the then governor of Assam, Sri Prakasa read as follows;

"had discussion with his Highness of Manipur this morning. HH threatens returning to manipur without holding any discussion or signing the agreement. HH must not under any circumstances be allowed to return to Manipur with his advisers and I have accordingly instructed police to detain here his party. if they attempt to return before the signing of agreement".

If this telegram is not wrong , just think that no politically conscious people will hardly consider the Indian take over of Manipur in 1949. The constitutional validity and international approval of the said 1949 India-Manipur merger agreement has to be justified by India. It will the future political course of action to be followed in Manipur.

When we talk about AFSPA and present politico-military in manipur, the discussion must start from pre-merger political status of Manipur. The circumstances which led to the merger of manipur to India gave birth to the present armed movement and the coming AFSPA was an imposition in the latter period. No self-respected nation will accept any "versailles like treaty ".

The killing of thousands of innocent civilians in North-east and J&K cannot be compensated with 2-3 lakhs of rupees. The raping of one's sister/mother/daughter cannot be easily compensated with your money. Even if Manipur is like Singapore in economic developement , we cannot easily forget the forced merger of Manipur to India. This is the source of all problem and any settlement of this controversy will solve the problem.

An all-India anti-AFSPA peoples' forum must work to launch an international campaign against AFSPA. Some nations go for human rights campaign against their enemy countries but they themselves indulge in violating human rights.

India's global campaign against racial discrimination like "apartheid" and human rights is record making; but her internal situation is the worst.the N-E people are called "Chinky","Nepali(Intentionally),"Junglee" etc,..

We need to teach India the old meitei proverb "meegi shumang shitringeida nanggi shumang hanna shitlu"

MU campus is for the security forces but JNU students freely roam at night at their campus. The entire Manipur is under the iron curtain of AFSPA. India need to work hard to win the hearts of the people for lasting peace and understanding in this region. If not I.N.D.I.A. will end up becoming "An injudicious nation doing inhumane activities"