WGHR asks India again to repeal AFSPA
Source: Hueiyen News Service
New Delhi, August 30 2012:
With just few weeks left for India to respond to the Universal Periodic Review recommendations, the Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR) has demanded repeal of the black law, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from occupied Kashmir and North East states.
The Working Group in a statement posted on its website said, "The prolonged application of the Act has not only institutionalized militarism and a climate of impunity, but has also alienated the public and fuelled a cycle of violence" .
The statement added that the fundamental rights such as the right to life, the right to a fair trial, the right to remedy and reparation, the right against torture and the right against arbitrary detention had been consistently violated in the areas.
It said the resistance against AFSPA was no longer confined to opposition parties or civil society, "but many official bodies including the Union Home Ministry's Committee to Review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (2005), the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2007) and the Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir (2007) have all recommended its repeal" .