indigenousnagaland #10 - AFSPA

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was condemned in the British era as colonial law by the Indian freedom fighters who enforced it today after gaining their "world's biggest democracy".

The colonial British said that it was a peace-keeping law only for the Indian freedom fighters to disagree. The Indian freedom fighters say today that it is a peace-keeping law only for the ethnic minorities to disagree.

The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre argues that the governments' call for increased force is part of the problem.

"This reasoning exemplifies the vicious cycle which has been instituted in the North East due to the AFSPA. The use of the AFSPA pushes the demand for more autonomy, giving the people of the North East more reason to want to secede from a state which enacts such powers and the agitation which ensues continues to justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government." - The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre

United States leaked diplomatic cables

The Wikileaks diplomatic cables have recently disclosed that Indian government employees agree to acts of human rights violations on part of the Indian armed forces and various paramilitary forces deployed in the north east parts of India especially Manipur. The violations have been carried out under the cover of this very Act. Governor S.S. Sidhu admitted to the American Consul General in Kolkata, Henry Jardine, that the Assam Rifles in particular are perpetrators of violations in Manipur which the very same cables described as a state that appeared more of a colony and less of an Indian state.

Santosh Hegde commission on fake encounters

A high-power commission headed by the retired Supreme Court judge, N. Santosh Hegde was constituted in January 2013 to probe six encounter deaths in Manipur. The committee, comprising former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, ex-CEC J M Lyngdoh and a senior police officer, has said in its report that the probe showed that none of the victims had any criminal records.

United Nations view

When India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991, members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA. They questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law and asked how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as "dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards."

On 31 March 2012, the UN asked India to revoke AFSPA saying it had no place in Indian democracy. Christof Heyns, UN's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said "During my visit to Kashmir, AFSPA was described to me as 'hated' and 'draconian'. It clearly violates International Law. A number of UN treaty bodies have pronounced it to be in violation of International Law as well."

EEFVAM (Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association) petitioned the Supreme Court for a probe and compensation for as many as 1,528 cases of suspected extra-judicial killings by the security forces in Manipur under the garb of AFSPA between 2000 to 2012.

The Indian propaganda machinery described the Naga soldiers as “terrorists”, “gangsters”, “dacoits”, “hostiles”, “ruthlessly bloodthirsty”, “misguided perpetrators of law”,​ etc. Whereas, according to Gen F. A. Vyas of the Indian army, "Naga insurgents never adopted terror tactics" (Manipuronline 2006). According to Murkot Ramuny, the notorious Indian Security Commissioner who created a reign of terror in Naga areas for many years stated in his writing, "The Nagas do not kill civilians" (ibid.).

Nagaland declared as ‘disturbed area’ for 6 more months under AFSPA

Question worth asking: who disturbed whom and in whose land?

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