Blinded by the immunity of AFSPA :: Poignantly ironic
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 13, 2012 -

Tributes being paid to the portraits of Manorama :: Pix - TSE

It was poignantly ironic. In brutally killing her the Assam Rifles personnel would not have been under any illusion that they were in the process of scripting some sort of a history and making a figure out of Th Manorama.

Maybe it was sheer providence, but more likely it was the unbridled power conferred by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that blinded them into issuing the arrest memo while picking up Th Manorama in the intervening nights of July 10 and 11 and then non-chalantly dumping her off the next day.

Sans the arrest memo, then most probably Th Manorama would have been another name in the list of involuntary disappeared, a la Sanamacha.

In many ways the contemporary history of Manipur rests on the edifice of the battered and bullet riddled body of Th Manorama.

Apart from the lone battle carried on by Irom Sharmila, for the first time in the history of the land, a concerted, mass movement was launched against the continued imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

For the first time in the history of post independence India, a panel was constituted to go into the details of the said military Act and to recommend their findings.

After a protracted period of demand, Kangla was finally handed over to the people of Manipur and a new definition was given to nude protest when a number of elderly womenfolk disrobed themselves in front Kangla which then housed the Assam Rifles.

Human flame entered the lexicon of the people when Pebam Chittaranjan self immolated. In killing her so brutally the Assam Rifles personnel played a hand, albeit inadvertently, in triggering a chain reaction which not only paralysed the State for months but also catapulted AFSPA into the consciousness of the international community.

Eight years down the line and the halycon days of 2004 continue to send goose pimples down the spine of every true blooded Manipuris. Eight years down the line, there is not even a hint that justice has been delivered, despite the institution of a Magisterial inquiry and an Army Court of Inquiry.

Eight years down the line, AFSPA continues to provide immunity to the security personnel, though it has been lifted from the seven Assembly segments within Imphal Municipal Council.

More importantly has the political establishment of the country learnt any lesson from the days of 2004 ? Nothing, if one takes into account that Irom Sharmila Chanu has completed more than ten years of fast demanding the repeal of the said Act.

There is nothing unconstitutional about AFSPA, with the Supreme Court giving it the stamp of legal legitimacy, but there is nothing human about this Act.

Any suspect can be killed and in an environment where anybody and anyone can be a suspect, this can prove extremely dangerous and discriminatory for the only person assigned with the responsibility of painting someone with the suspect brush can be a petty military officer.

Sustaining a public movement, that too for a prolonged period is no doubt a tough call, but eight years since 2004 and the movement against AFSPA seems to have meandered its way into the labyrinth of ignorance and confusion, confined to some select days and seminar rooms.

No doubt this also counts, but perhaps the time calls for a renewed introspection to study where and how the movement fizzled out. Was the movement launched on the bullet riddled body of Manipur meant to end this way ?