Indian military ranks first in extra judicial killings: RPF
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 13 2013 : Keeping in backdrop the recent report of the enquiry commission ins-tituted at the instance of the Indian Supreme Court which declared that all the six cases it probed were clear cases of fake encounter, the proscribed RPF has alleged that Indian military now ranks first in the world in terms of committing extra judi-cial killings.

The enquiry commission was instituted in response to a PIL filed by Human Rights Alert and Extra Judicial Execution Victims Families As- sociation Manipur.

After receiving the report, the Supreme Court has ordered similar enquiry into 36 other cases of extra judicial killings, the proscribed RPF noted in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary Roben Khuman.

The moot question here is, can Indian military and Mani-pur police commandos be stopped from committing fake encounters by establishing facts and meting out punishment to those personnel found guilty.

The wish of the people is not merely punishment of the guilty personnel.

Protection of the mass from fake encounters is also their common wish.

Massive human rights violation in Bosnia and Herze- govina was exposed when some BBC reporters unearthed more than 400 bags containing corpses which were kept concealed by the Yugoslavian army in an unused railway tunnel.

Those dead people were pulled up by the Yugoslavian army for being suspects and killed in fake encounters as was done in Manipur.

If all those people killed in fake encounters in Manipur were put in bags, there would be 1528 such bags.

This is one spine-chilling and brutal situation, the outfit remarked.

Given such a situation, one need to understand the reasons behind these numerous cases of fake encounters or extra judicial killings.

Once Manipur was annexed by India, its political system rather than moving forward started degenerating.

Although there was liberation movement before 1970, it was after 1970 that the people of Manipur started waging a distinct liberation movement to free themselves from the clutch of the Indian rule.

By 1979, the armed revolution movement started challenging the Indian military.

The armed movement was a big blow to New Delhi and their local collaborators who projected Gandhi and Nehru as the only leaders of Manipuri people.

Soon after, New Delhi sent in a multitude of their military force into Manipur to suppress the liberation movement.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 which is a carbon copy of the Armed Forced Ordinance Act 1942 framed by the then imperialist British rulers was imposed all over Manipur since September 9, 1980 during the Chief Ministership of RK Dorendra.

Before AFSPA was imposed in Manipur, the State was already declared a 'disturbed area' .

Even though, the British rulers, the original architect of AFSPA had scrapped the same Act saying that it was a draconian law, New Delhi has been imposing the same Act for the past many decades without any remorse.

Continued imposition of AFSPA and the Indian military's conduct under the cloak of the draconian law only testified that Manipur is a colony of India.

Again, New Delhi never imposed AFSPA in its Maoism affected States of Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Andra Pradesh etc.

Forget about imposing AFSPA in these States, there was a furore in the Indian Parliament when a proposal was put up to deploy AFSPA to combat Maoists in these States, RPF observed.

Section 4 of AFSPA empowers even a non commissioned officer to raid and destroy any suspected place, structure and arrest or kill any person on mere suspicion.

It also makes civil judicial system inapplicable to the military personnel even when civilians have been arrested, killed, massacred or raped in the name of counter insurgency operations.

In short, AFSPA gives unbridled power to the Indian military to detain or kill people at their own whim.

It was under this section 4 of AFSPA that 1528 people were killed in fake encounters by security forces in Manipur, the outfit asserted.

By imposing AFSPA all over Manipur since 1980, the Government launched military warfare and psychological warfare simultaneously against the people of Manipur.

Apart from opening check-posts on every street and lane, the Indian military severely restricted the movement of common men.

Detention of false charges, torture, involuntary disappearance, killings, massacres and rapes became daily happenings in Manipur.

The practice of handing over dead or maimed persons to police after they were apprehended and tortured by the Indian military continues even today, it alleged.

Indian military's highest level of cruelty was observed at the Patsoi Langjing outrage, Heirangoithong Massacre (1984) and Oinam Massacre (1987) in Senapati district during the infamous Operation Blue Bird.

The Patsoi Langjing outrage clearly indicated that the Indian military never see Manipuri people as their own people.

Again, the Heirangoithong Massacre exposed the cruel intention of the Indian military to commit genocide and exterminate Manipuri people from the surface of earth.

In the Heirangoithong Massacre, 13 people were mowed by the Indian military using a machine gun while 31 others sustained grievous injuries.

In the Oinam massacre, a team of Indian military force led by Maj Gen Kuketri ordered 13 villagers to fall in line before they were shot dead.

Apart from keeping a large number of people in an open field under hot sun for several hours, a pregnant woman was forced to deliver baby in the open field in the most humiliating manner.

Unable to bear such atrocity of the Indian military, the Naga People's Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) filed a PIL at the Indian Supreme Court.

In response, the Supreme laid down certain dos and don'ts which the Indian military should abide by during counter insurgency operations with respect to civilians.

However, the Indian military has literally thrown away the Supreme Court directives and is continuously targeting civilians.

Following the outrage, Amnesty International realised that Indian military has been extensively violating human rights in Manipur under the impunity guaranteed by AFSPA.

Amnesty International condemned AFSPA saying that it could not be called a law as its sections 4,5 and 6 directly challenge the International Bill of Human Rights, RPF noted.

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