Guwahati, Jul 24 : The need to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was underlined by Dialogue Form, a civil society group that has closely monitored its implementation in Manipur and rest of the North East. The crux of their argument, voiced in a press conference today: the Act has resulted in serious human rights abuse, and it has been unable to check insurgency in the five decades since it was first introduced.
According to Dialogue Forum, the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) has observed that “AFSPA continues to sanction absolute impunity for serious human rights violations against the predominant indigenous population of Manipur and other Northeast states.”It further suggested that this law be replaced by a more humane one in accordance with the recommendations of the 2005 Jeevan Reddy Committee. It was pointed out that the Jeevan Reddy Committee’s report that has not yet been made public by India states that the AFSPA has become a “symbol of oppression…and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness.”
Similar conclusions were drawn by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, chaired by Congress leader Veerappa Moily, which suggested the repeal of the Act.
India till now has shown no interest in removing the law. Defence Minister AK Anthony rejected the Second Administrative Reforms Commission reasoning that there was a need for the Act to be in use.
U Nobokishore of Dialogue Forum asserted that India’s refusal to do away with the Act is tantamount to rejecting not only UNCERD’s recommendation but ignoring long-standing concerns of other UN Human Rights bodies. “The United Nations Commission on Human Rights also believes that AFSPA has essentially created an undeclared state of emergency spanning almost 50 years,” he added.
Interacting with the media, Nobokishore said that as a civil society group, Dialogue Forum condemned human rights abuses by both state and non-state actors, and demanded the AFSPA be repealed at the earliest as it had resulted in large number of atrocities on non-combatants including women and children.
He felt there was a need to motivate the MPs of the Northeast about the Act, and its consequences so that they could play a role towards its removal. As of now, the State Governments of the region were, however, playing a disappointing role.
Dialogue Forum was also advocating a 15-point programme that could be relied on in a post-AFSPA scenario. That agenda included demobilisation of forces, disarmament, and better functioning of civil society along with a clear-cut role for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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