Can SC's judgment stop fake encounters, asks RPF-II
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 15 2013: Contd from April 13 .

Questioning the guarantee of the judgment given by the Supreme Court over various cases of fake encounters in Manipur, the proscribed UG group, Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) asked whether it would ensure no more fake encounters in the state in future.

In a statement signed by its Secretary Publicity Roben Khuman, RPF noted that the Supreme Court of India ordered an enquiry into randomly selected six cases out of numerous fake encounters listed in the PIL filed jointly by Human Rights Alert and Extra Judicial Execution Victims Families Association.

After a Supreme Court-appointed inquiry committee submitted its report stating that all the six cases were indeed fake encounters, the Supreme Court has further ordered submission of the inquiry reports of 36 more cases which have not been made public at all.

As the Inquiry Committee has already pointed out that all the six cases under probe are fake encounters, erring personnel would be get befitting punishment.

But the question is will the judgment of the Supreme Court be able to prevent further fake encounters in Manipur? What people want is not only justice to the victims but to stop such extra judicial killings in Manipur forever, RPF observed.

It went on to point out that human rights violation by Yugoslavian army in Bosnia and Herzegovina was exposed to the world after BBC reporters unearthed 400 bags of dead bodies which were dumped by Yugoslavian army in an abandoned railway tunnel.

All the dead bodies were of people who have been picked up by Yugoslavian army from their homes on mere suspicion, which is similar to the situation in Manipur.

If the victims of fake encounter in Manipur are filled in bags, the Indian army would need nearly 1528 bags.

In such a situation, one needs to find out the root cause of the extra judicial killings in the state.

It is well known that the political situation in Manipur is going backward instead of going forward in tune with time.

Even if revolutionary movement in the state began as early as 1970, the real and effective revolutionary movement participated by energetic youths began only after 1970.From 1978 onwards, the revolutionary organisations began armed warfare against the Indian army openly and began to challenge them.

This armed revolutionary movement became a headache for the Delhi Bandits and its puppet politicians in the state.

Because of this, the Delhi Bandits in discussion with the puppet government of Manipur began to push in large number of Indian army personnel in the state in an attempt to subdue the rising revolutionary movement.

The then India Government and its leader also copied the Armed Forces Ordinance 1942 of the British Empire, which was imposed in India to ensure its colonial rule, and renamed it as Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958.Then, the India government imposed the same Act to give the armed forces personnel the License to Kill in Manipur in 1980 when RK Dorendra was the Chief Ministe of Manipur.

Before the Act was imposed, the whole of Manipur was already declared as a Disturbed Area.

Even the British Empire, who framed the Act had cancelled it terming it to be a Draconian Law, but the Delhi Bandits fondly embraced the Act and preserved it only to impose in States like Manipur, which were forcefully annexed and were different from rest of India.

One need to find out why the Act has not been imposed in Maoists affected states of the mainland India like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh etc.

The only reason which prevents the India government from imposing the Act in these states is that the people of these states are their own.

Even a proposal of using para-military forces to subdue the revolutionary movement in these states would create chaos in the Parliament let alone the matter of imposing the Act, RPF observed.

As Section 4 of AFSPA gives a Non-Commission Officer the right to order to arrest, search and destroy houses and properties without warrant and shoot to kill a any person on mere suspicion, the Act freely allows the Indian Army to arrest, torture, indulge in mass killing, rape women or men and kill anybody they want, and the Act defends them against any legal action for such crimes.

In short, the Act allows any armed personnel the right to kill or torture any persons in the name of counter insurgency.

It is under Section 4 of the Act that the Security Forces have killed 1528 people in fake encounters in Manipur, RPF asserted.

Ever since the Act was imposed in Manipur in 1980, Indian army had been actively engaging in tormenting the people of the state under two strategic policies which are Military Warfare and Psychological Warfare until 1990.With impunity granted under the Act and the strategic policies, the Indian army disturbed the people of the state and created a mental trauma by frequent checking on every check post of the Army, conducting Combing Operations, imposing strict rules which prohibit people to step outside of their houses, raping and sodomising men and women including minors, picking up innocent persons and disposed off their bodies after torture or dubbing them as UG cadres after being shot dead.

Many have become victims of their torture and dictates while many have died.

Still many more are spending their lives as disabled person.

Many innocent persons have succumbed to their Third Degree torture method.

Among them, bodies of many have been disposed off without any trace while many are made revolutionary cadres after being killed.

The matter became more like a daily routine in Manipur whereas no one was there to stand against such excesses of the security forces.

Even if some rights bodies find out the truth and submitted it to the government for necessary actions, the puppet government and the Delhi Bandits remain mute and blind spectator.

The Patsoi Langjing Incident (1980), Heirangoithong Massacre (1984) and Oinam Massacre (1987) are some important incidents that occurred in 80s which showed the inhumane side of Indian Army and their attitude towards the people of Manipur.

The Patsoi Langjing Incident showed how the Indian Army think of the people of Manipur and how they alienate the people by torturing them.

The Heirangoithong Massacre showed how the Indian Army attempted to liquidate the people of Manipur by committing Genocide.

In the incident, the Indian Army killed 13 innocent people and injured 31 others severely by firing Machine Gun at an innocent crowd.

The Oinam Incident showed the cowardice of Indian Army and their disrespect of the people of Manipur and their rights.

Unable to face the armed revolutionary cadres, AR personnel under the leadership of Major General Kuketrina paraded 13 innocent villagers and killed them mercilessly.

Moreover, many villagers were assaulted and tortured, their houses burnt, paraded everyone in an open ground whole day under the scorching sun and even forced expectant mother to deliver her baby on the ground in full public view.

Unable to bear the torture and trauma of the Assam Rifles' act, the Naga People' Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) filed a PIL in the Supreme Court of India.

After studying the PIL, the Supreme Court had issued guidelines to the Indian Army to be complied with while dealing with civilians.

However, the Indian Army never bothers to follow the guidelines and continues with their activities.

Taking note of all these excesses of the Indian Army, Amnesty International has denounced AFSPA, stating that it should not be treated as Law since Section 4, 5 and 6 of the Act violates and completely contradicts the International Bill of Human Rights, RPF recalled.

After 1990, Indian Army gradually withdraws itself from directly carrying out such extra-judicial killings in the name of counter insurgency but they remained active indirectly as a Proxy Forces standing behind the State Forces especially the Manipur Police Commandos as a shadow.

In the 90s, the Combined Forces of Manipur Police Commandos and Indian Army escalated the extra-judicial activities in the state and began many strategic policies like Military Warfare, Socio Psychological Warfare, Narco-Terrorism Warfare, etc.

The reason for the India Government to actively engage the Manipur Police Commandos in counter insurgency operations is that they were tired of fighting the revolutionary movements and most importantly it is a policy to use the people of Manipur against their own blood brothers so that mainland India can fly high the flag of victory when people of Manipur are exterminated in bloodshed among themselves, RPF alleged.

Meanwhile, the puppet governments of Manipur which are well aware of the secret agenda and policies of the India government only add more fuel to the Manipur Police Commandos by providing high tech weapons, equipments, vehicles and instigate them to kill their own brothers instead of opposing such activities.

On the other hand, the Manipur Police Commandos who are lured with Gallantry Award and Monetary rewards also began to think of killing innocent peoples in the name of counter insurgency as their normal duty.

Whenever a civilian is arrested by Commandos, it has become a common report in the local media that "a UG cadre has been killed in an encounter with Security forces.

Police recovered one 9mm pistol, three live rounds and a Chinese made hand grenade while another UG cadre managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness".

Unfortunately, Tehelka had exposed that Manipur Police Commandos carry out Fake Encounters in the Sanjit and Rabina case. On the other hand, Indian Army is not left behind in this treachery.

If any person wearing Khudei had been arrested while sleeping at home, it is sure that they would be found shot dead wearing oversized camouflage uniforms and boots the following day.

Even rickshaw drivers who have been arrested were found converted into UG cadres after they were killed.

The Tera Massacre (1993), RMC Massacre (1996), Tonsem Lamkhai Massacre (1999) and Malom Massacre (2000) were some gruesome genocide carried out by Indian Army personnel after 80s. The gang rape and brutal killing of Thangjam Manorama (32) after arresting her from her house on the night of July 11, 2004 created uproar in whole of Manipur.

Meira Paibi leaders shed their clothes in front of the Assam Rifles camp at the Western Gate of Kangla and demanded to remove AFSPA and Indian Army from the state.

The self immolation of Pebam Chittaranjan demanding the repeal of AFSPA at Bishnupur added more fuel to the public revolution and exposed the gruesome and inhumane nature of Indian Army and their attitude towards the people of Manipur to the whole world.

But what saddened the people of Manipur the most was the killing of four civilians including three Kuki students by Manipur Police Commandos when the whole state was demanding the repeal of AFSPA.

When the state government was unable to control the situation, they begged the Centre for some mercy and the latter allowed the state government to remove AFSPA from seven Assembly Segments in Greater Imphal on trial basis.

Afterwards, the Centre formed Jeevan Reddy Commission to conduct an enquiry into the necessity of AFSPA in Manipur.

The Commission recommended repeal of AFSPA from Manipur, but the Center has kept the report in cold storage without any consideration.

After this incident, the Manipur Police Commandos have surpassed the Indian Security Forces and overtook them in carrying out fake encounters or Extra Judicial killings in the state.

As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court of India began the investigation into various fake encounters with cases in which Manipur Police Commandos were involved while leaving earlier incidents for future consideration.

Since the Commission had reported that all the six cases were fake encounters, some personnel of the Manipur Police Commandos who put their souls in carrying out such extra judicial activities will now get terminated from their services while some will spend the rest of their lives cooling their heels in the jail.

Now, the Mainpur Police Commandos have become the scapegoat in the killing game.

At present, the India Government is facing allegations and warnings from different branch organisations of United Nations and many countries have demanded repeal of AFSPA and to stop the right violations by Indian Army in Manipur.

As a result, the India government has initiated the proposal to repeal AFSPA from Manipur.

However, the Chief of Army Staff of India is now opposing the proposal stating that Army would not be able to carry out counter insurgency operations in the state if AFSPA is removed.

Unfortunately, the Indian legislators are not saying anything against the opinion of the Army Chief and it shows that India is a country which believes in Neo-Colonialism, thus proving itself to be a Hangover of the British Colonial Government.

If the India government wants to stop such tortures and extra-judicial killings, then it has to sign both the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention 1977 and translate them into action.

On the other hand, India has signed the Anti Torture Convention 1948 in the early part of 1995 but its Army is still torturing innocent peoples all these years.

After studying the history of the past decades, RPF has re-affirmed that the AFSPA is the root cause of the various Extra Judicial Killings in the state.

Even if the Supreme Court punishes the erring security personnel, such extra-judicial killings would continue in a more secured manner so that they could escape future legal punishments, RPF stated, while Thanking the Human Rights Alert and Extra Judicial Execution Victims' Families Association for bringing up the cases to the Supreme Court for ensuring justice to the victims' families.

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