INDIA – Give more power to armed forces? Abolish Armed Forces Powers Act!
15 December 2009 6:00 am

The
Government of India has been actively considering amendments to the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). In this regard, the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Amendment Bill 2009 has been listed for
discussion during the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.
(Source: Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), 2 December 2009)
The
Government of India has been actively considering amendments to the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). In this regard, the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Amendment Bill 2009 has been listed for
discussion during the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.

Pertinently
the proposed amendments have not been placed in the public domain for a
discussion on the same. Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights
(PVCHR) and NATT alliance member Wide angle from Manipur  would
like to urge that AFSPA should be repealed in totality and no part of
it should be inserted in any other legislation of the country.

The
AFSPA grants special powers to the armed forces of the union to operate
in the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura,Mizoram
and Arunachal Pradesh since 1958, and in Jammu Kashmir since 1990. Once
an area is declared 'disturbed' under this Act, the armed forces of the
union can arrest and detain citizens without warrant, search and
destroy properties without warrant, and even use force to the extent of
killing citizens on mere suspicion.

Civil
society groups in these regions as well as human rights groups outside
the regions have documented gross violations of human rights under this
Act and have been demanding its repeal. Ms. Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri
poet, has created history as she enters the tenth year of her
indefinite hunger strike against the Act, despite several attempts by
the state to forcibly feed her. She has been uncompromisingly demanding
the repeal of this draconian law.