Peaceful March to Repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, at New Delhi
- Save Democracy Repeal AFSPA Group -

New Delhi, 2 October 2011:

SAVE DEMOCRACY: REPEAL ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) ACT 1958

Peaceful March to Repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, 2nd October 2011, 11.30 am onwards at Jantar Mantar ,Sansad Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi.

New Delhi, 2 October 2011: Gandhi, the father of India and the epitome of peace and non-violence ,taught the world a way of protest unheard of before in the history, a path of love and tolerance that would gradually soften the heart of the perpetrator when adorned with a sense of rationale and informed logic. 53 long years of struggle and tyranny inflicted by the oppressive political structures on the common people of North-East have lead to a sense alienation and mistrust.

AFSPA is almost equivalent to a state of undeclared war in these regions. The heavy presence of the armed forces who are empowered to detain or even shoot anyone on the basis of suspicion and that to with impunity has led to a rising incidents of fake encounters, murders, rapes, sexual harassment, kidnapping, mass graves etc etc. And thus consequences of act/law directly befall upon the common man who suffers brutally and is often caught as a victim in the dichotomy created by the state of the armed forces and the insurgents. Indian State is doing all kinds of state violence in the name of Gandhi. State is using his photos in all the government offices and on the other side state believes only the violence means.

We, the SAVE DEMOCRACY REPEAL AFSPA group believe in the principle of democracy infused with equality, freedom, peace and love. We also believe in the inherent right to life of every individual who is born and the dignity he/she deserves. Thus this initiative was appropriately chosen to be conducted on 2nd October (Gandhi Jayanti) to spread awareness about the issues of AFSPA and thus mobilize the masses.

Civil society organizations, women activists from the Northeast and other parts of the country, scholars, students, concerned citizens of India are joining hands for a peaceful march to assess the call to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on 2nd October 2011, 11.30 am onwards at Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg, and Connaught Place, New Delhi.

AFSPA has been invoked for more than five decades and since been used throughout Northeast India. A variant of the law has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990.AFSPA has entered its 53 years of implementation. Government panels, United Nations and hundreds of civil society organizations across India have called for its repeal, but the issue continues to remain deadlocked.

Officials have long sought to justify the use of the law by citing the need for the armed forces to have extraordinary powers to combat armed insurgents. However, human rights abuses facilitated by the AFSPA have fed public anger and disillusionment with the Indian state. “AFSPA has been extended for yet another 6 months in Tripura, several people have died and more than 50 villages have been burnt down because of AFSPA.

At the moment AFSPA is covering 50 police stations in Tripura which are all inhabitants by indigenous people. We the ‘Borok’ people of Tripura call upon the Govt. of India to repeal the AFSPA as the act is discriminating, it destroys and culture and life of people,” says Anthony Debbarma, Secretary, Borok People’s Human Rights Organisation, Agartala,Tripura.

“If human dignity and the face of democracy is to be restored in India, AFSPA has to go,” says Neingulo Krome, Former Secretary General, Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, Nagaland.

AFSPA is deemed by many as draconian law that should not have remained in force for decades. It has now become an object of hate. It has been abused directly by soldiers, and has also created a climate of impunity and abuse that has emboldened other police and paramilitary to commit human rights violations with impunity. The Supreme Court already has issued guidelines to prevent human rights violations, but these are routinely ignored.

Following widespread protests after the 2004 rape and murder Ms. Manorama Devi in Manipur, the Indian government set up a five-member committee to review AFSPA. The committee submitted its report in June 2005, recommending the repeal of the act. In April 2007, a working group on Jammu and Kashmir appointed by the prime minister also recommended that the act be revoked. In the same year the second Administrative Reform Commission has recommended its repeal. However, the cabinet has not acted on the recommendations because of opposition from the armed forces.

“All rights given to citizens under the Indian Constitution is destroyed under AFSPA”, states noted women activist Mrs Lourembam Nganbi from Manipur. “AFSPA is black law which should be erased from the face of the earth. Therefore women in Manipur have taken a decision that we shall not rest in peace till this is done. We call upon all to help us in this our legitimate effort so that peace comes back to Manipur, the Northeast and the rest of India.”

To commemorate the same, and bring the demand of REPEAL AFSPA out in the open both to the Government, and the media, the Save Democracy Repeal AFSPA group organized a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. which collected a large mob of around 700. The meeting was very dynamic and enthused with a live energy of patriotism and nationalistic temperament.

It was presided over by many noted intellectuals and academicians the likes of L. Bablu ,Dir Human Rights Alert, Manipur, Mr SInghajit, Irom Sharmila's brother, Prof Bimal Akoijam, Dept of sociology, JNU, Dr Saroj Giri, Dept of Political Science, Delhi University, Ema Ngangidi, Leader Meira Paibi, Arvind Gaur, Director Asmita Theater group and Binalkshmi Nepram, Founder, Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, Mr Thomas Mathur, People’s front , Delhi, Shushita De, General Secretary All India Student’s Association, Bamang Tango, Chairperson, Arunachal Citizen’s Right, Malini Ahuja, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Manipur, Biju Samom, President, Manipur Student’s Association, Delhi (MASAD) backed by a large team of volunteers and supporters.

The protest was followed by a march around Parliament Street, Delhi during which slogans such as “Right to life and dignity”, “Repeal AFSPA” etc were chanted with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. This was followed by a signature campaign and Akhu from the famous Manipuri band Imphal pocket singing songs on lives of Manipuri people and the state of frustration and sadness at the failure of the Indian state in their case.

Finally the day ended with a spell-binding performance by the Asmita Theater group on interface in society, on how the differences which were supposed to lend India its rich heritage with multi-culturalism turn people against each other and create divides and the question on the floor was…where does this arise from and where will it end at?!!

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Organized By
SAVE DEMOCRACY : REPEAL AFSPA
Email: savedemocracy(dot)repealafspa(at)gmail(dot)com