Denunciation Of Martial Law Governance Approach And Behaviour Of Manipur Govt and Manipur University

12 August 2014

The Centre for Organisation Research Education (CORE), the Human to Humane Transcultural Centre for Torture and Trauma (H2H) and Indigenous Perspectives (IP) of Manipur are severely constrained by recent widely reported incidents and situations where the state government and it’s law enforcement agencies, particularly the Manipur Police, as well as the administration of the central Manipur University are increasingly exhibiting the behaviour that characterises a tyrannical and authoritarian military dictatorship upon its citizens. We recall that this is the very state government that conducted a Public Hearing in Tamenglong District HQ on the proposed Tipaimukh Hydro-Electric Project way back in 2006 and simultaneously, and bizarrely, imposed Criminal Procedure Code of India (CrPC) Section 144 in Tamenglong with prohibition orders against public assembly! We are deeply concerned that this tyrannical character of the government of Manipur has not ended; it has only increased in its vehemence and violently repressive actions.

The signatory organisations condemn in unequivocal terms that such action as the violent repression of students of the Manipur University (a Central University) with firing of smoke bombs, tear gas, rubber and real live rounds from rifles, the unjustified summary closure of the girl’ and boys’ hostels in the University campus is totally uncalled for. The closure of classes, hostels and other academic activities of the University by orders issued by the MU Registrar on 5th August 2014 amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.

After conducting a fact-finding mission yesterday (11th August 2014), it was discovered that some 20 male students and 3 female students, one of whom had injuries sustained during police firing within the campus, now camping under dismal and indigent conditions at Heijigang Keithel in Canchipur for the past week, have been living under conditions that can only be described as cruel and inhuman. Sleeping on the floor in the open, with no belongings except what they wear as all their belongings are detained in the closed hostels, suffering near starvation, and with some of them developing health complaints such as fever and diarrhoea, it is a shocking state of government failure in Manipur that has turned the MU campus into a virtual prison, a “Gaza Strip” of total heartlessness meted out to the students of Manipur who will be our future leaders.

We commend the local club and benevolent families who are providing the displaced and violated students some food and water. We are astounded that a prestigious Central University that has departments and centres conducting classes and academic works on human rights, excluded sections of society, political science and the humanities (Centres like for Manipur Studies, Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Gandhian Studies, Human Rights and Duties Education, etc.) has seemingly abandoned all the values it wants to inculcate to its scholars.

On the other hand, the continuous public emergency with prohibitory orders under CrPC 144, with disproportionate show of force and weaponry, imposed on all the citizens of Ukhrul since the immediate aftermath of a murder committed by unidentified armed persons on 12th July 2014 is another example of this tyrannical and arbitrary character of the government of Manipur, the behaviour of a state that has abandoned any defining policy or procedures of conduct based on a constitutional or democratic framework. In the name of a prevailing “law and order” situation, the government seems to be applying its own decisions in a mindless manner without a single serious thought paid to the consequences.

Development and education cannot be imposed under the barrel of a gun. Manipur seems to be in a state of a combination of the three stages of Martial Law Governance, where the government gradually rolls out controls over citizen liberties. Travel is restricted through inland border and road checkpoints and travel restrictions carry over into Stage two. The long imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 and other laws such as the National Security Act, 1980, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and its subsequent amendments pave the way by placing certain legal mechanisms for the orderly transition into full martial law. Internal intelligence gathering programs that randomly search citizens at public events and on the highways are now in place. Citizens are conditioned in this Stage one of Martial Law Governance by the AFSPA that they do not control or own their bodies as the public is molested by the Act publicly and privately every day. Stage one also begins to create an enemies’ list and we have already seen this in the lists maintained by the government and security forces in which persons suspected to be supporters of civil liberties, political dissent, etc., are maintained and branded as domestic terrorists. In Stage one, the government elevates itself above any pretence of constitutional liberties.

Manipur also witnesses certain features of Stage two of Martial Law Governance characterised by martial law implementation becoming obvious to all citizens except for the ones who invoke cognitive dissonance as a psychological coping mechanism. Stage two is marked by increasing restrictions on travel, the loss of freedom of speech and expression, the right to peaceful assembly to air grievances against the government. Stage two also witnesses some level of pushback by the citizens through various forms of civil disobedience, as we have in Manipur. Stage two is also characterized by the loss of due process of law with regard to arbitrary detainment, imprisonment or worse. This stage is also marked by limiting participation of members of the society who have been previously identified as enemies of the state, those listed as domestic terrorists. Stage two is characterized by creating a political caste system in which the legal rights of certain groups are set in place.

Stage three of Martial Law Governance has given history, and Manipur, some of its darkest days. Warrant-less detentions become common place in which suspected political dissidents are removed from society, usually in the middle of the night. Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions become routine, as we witnessed in Manipur.

In order to give justification to the address of a deteriorating “law and order” situation, the government of Manipur and India must strictly adhere to and comply with constitutional safeguards and due process of law in the most comprehensive sense, not restricting to only specific and narrow mechanisms such as AFSPA. The government of Manipur must immediately institute an impartial and independent high-level judicial inquiry into the incidents and prevailing situation in the Manipur University to ascertain why the police commandos were deployed, and why male police commandos forcefully entered the premises of the girls’ hostel and abused its inmates, and fix responsibility appropriately at all levels of law enforcement from the Minister of Home Affairs to the constable. Further, orders issued by the Manipur University authorities must be examined to ascertain arbitrariness and justification in consonance with the situation and circumstances, whether due restraint was exercised along with a full exploration of alternate conflict resolution mechanisms. University students, under the care of the authorities and residing in duly established hostels must be compensated appropriately and a full redress of wrongs should be done without delay.

We also urge the government of Manipur to immediately withdraw blanket prohibitory orders on a civil population, issue a white paper on the status of investigations regarding the assassination of Mr. Ngalangzar Malui, a member of the Autonomous District Council, Ukhrul district on 12th July 2014 and institute comprehensive confidence building measures by the District administration.

The government of Manipur is also urged to include the participation of civil society organisations, academic institutions and community leaders in regular and periodic transparent review of the situation and “disturbed areas” status of the different district and sub-divisions/tehsils within the State of Manipur. It is needless to impose AFSPA in the entire state when many sub-divisions have not recorded activities that fully justify a status of “disturbed area”.

Signed/
1. Executive Director, CORE
2. Director, H2H
3. Director, Indigenous Perspectives