A.F
.S
.P
.A m
ust be Abr
og
a ted
A.F.S
.S.P
.P.A
must
Abrog
oga
Our country calls itself to be
the world’s largest democracy. But
our rulers for all these 70 years are
relying on a military dictatorship-
type law. The Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA) for continuing
their ‘democratic rule’ in certain
states, refusing to resolve the
democratic aspirations and
demands of the people of those
states.
The roots of this AFSPA are in
the British colonial ordinance of
Armed forces special powers,
which was promulgated in 1942 by
the British colonial government to
quell the Quit India movement.
Subsequently this came handy
to the ‘Indian rulers’ after the
transfer of power. Initially they
imposed this draconian law in 1958
in united Assam and Nagaland on
the pretext of countering terrorism.
Later this law was extended and
imposed on the North-eastern
states. From 1998 onwards this
draconian law has been imposed
on Jammu & Kashmir.
With the total immunity and
protection provided by the AFSPA
the army has been playing havoc
with the lives of civilians in those
states, duly misusing the powers
vested in it. On a number of
occasions the army has been
found unlawfully misusing the Act
not only against innocent people
but even against civil authorities.
People of those states imposed
with AFSPA have been continuously
opposing it and are demanding for
the revocation of the draconian law.
Irome Sharmila of Manipur had
gone on hunger strike for 16 years
in protest against this draconian law
demanding its withdrawal. Against
the brutal killing of Thanqajam
Manorama by the Army, some
women even protested in nude to
expose that brutality to the world.
20
Today we witness resistance of
people in Jammu&Kashmir against
the army that has been perpetrating
untold atrocities and killings against
the civilians in the name of fighting
insurgency, tackling terrorism and
protecting from a major security
threat to India and national territorial
integrity of the country. We see
army undermines the civilian
administration and the government
of the state adamantly refusing to
be accountable for its violations.
Time and again various
committees and commissions
enquired in to the Question of
justifiability of usage of AFSPA,
constituted by the central govern-
ment have recommended revoking
the law. Former supreme-court
judge B.P.Jeevan Reddy who has
tasked by the UPA government with
suggesting amendments to AFSPA
recommended that the law be
replace altogether.
But the ruling class parties do
not heed such recommendations
nor do they consider accountability
for human rights violations is
sacrosanct.
Recently when much criticism
arose against the imposition of
A.F.S.P.A, and demands from
states for the revocation of the Act,
during budget session, Union
Minister of State for Home,
Hamlarao Gangaram Ahir informed
Lok Sabha in a written reply that
the government was considering a
proposal to make AFSPA more
“operationally effective and
humane”. Thus he disclosed the
NDA government’s refusal to
abrogate the AFSPA at any cost.
But recently the Central
Ministry of Home Affairs considered
that in Meghalaya which for the
past 27 years was under AFPSA,
the Act has been revoked from all
the areas of the state from April 1
and the Act is scaled down from 16
Police stations to eight in Arunachal
Pradesh. This announcement
cannot taken as a “change of mind”
of as NDA rulers towards the
protection of human and democratic
rights, but a mere gesture in
accordance with its machinations
of its power game politics. No one
can have illusions with this
announcement that AFSPA is going
to become humane. It is exclusively
to hood-wink people with democratic
aspirations and to divert their
attention from the crux of the point.
Since the trigger happy army
is in favour of the continuance of
AFPSA, our rulers supposed to be
policy makers wish not to venture
to scrap the draconian AFSPA,
since such stance will also help to
further the agenda of NDA rulers.
But the people of India who
aspire for a real democratic rule but
not a military rule in the guise of
democracy demand the abrogation
of AFSPA once for all and to resolve
all the conflicts and problem of the
people that arose in those states!
No alternative to this demand is
acceptable.
TARIMELA NAGIREDDY MEMORIAL TRUST PUBLICATIONS
HISTORICAL AND POLEMICAL DOCUMENTS
OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN INDIA
VOL.I 1943-51- RS. 300/-
VOL.II 1963-72- RS. 500/-
For Details:
P.Jaswantha Rao, Secretary,
T.N.Memorial Trust, 32-13-26/1,
M.R.Puram, Vijayawada, pin-520 010.
Class Struggle