AFSPA dilemma in North East: Assam seeks complete withdrawal; Manipur prefers extension amid unrest

The controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, is once again making headlines after the Assam Cabinet decided to appeal to the Centre for the complete withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Assam. The districts where the AFSPA and the Disturbed Areas Act are still in effect in the state are Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Jorhat, Karbi Anglong, and Dima Hasao. These districts are still tagged as ‘disturbed areas’ within the state. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and announced last week that the state government is ready to make an appeal to the Centre, and if the Central Government gives a nod, complete withdrawal of the act is expected by October. Following this announcement, support started pouring in favour of the decision. GM Srivastava, former DGP of Assam and Tripura who was at the helm of counter-insurgency operations in the NE, said, “See, initially, I supported my year-long experience. I used to support AFSPA. I supported it when it was needed. Now Assam is ready to do away with it. The intensity of militancy in Assam and nearby states has come down to 5 per cent of what it used to be once upon a time. What is seen today is more criminals fighting for rights, and they have to be handled like criminals. For that, Assam Police is very well equipped.” He further added, “Over a period of time, the brigade is trained and the brigade has enough experience to handle things with paramilitary forces and also on its own. We used to have a special group with some 400 trained boys. They took on ULFA and brought it down to almost 20 per cent. It was virtually finished by that time because Paresh Baruah was still outside and getting support from China and also getting territorial freedom and support from Myanmar and monetary support from some other channels. That segment will be alive in an international design but when they become too active we are ready to take them down. It’s just they are different. We can’t take them yet, but in Assam, they have become totally defunct, barring some odd instances of money collection and other crimes. They are basically indulging in crime now, and there is no high-end philosophy behind it.” Assam, once termed as the epicentre of extremism and insurgency in northeastern India, has gradually seen terror declining over the years, and thus the state government is preparing a roadmap to complete the withdrawal of the controversial act. Quoting this as the right move, Srivastava said the act is now redundant in the context of Assam. “Assam Police of late has trained four battalions alongside the army and that I think is a very good initiative. The area of activity has also become limited as you know only two districts in upper Assam, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and part of Sivasagar. We can handle those areas too by different methods, by creating jobs, infrastructure, etc. We should rather use special forces in border areas or jungle areas, especially bordering Myanmar. There are certain belts in neighbouring states connecting to Myanmar that are not guarded and are used by these militant outfits, whatever little is left of them,” the former Assam Police chief said. “We have to clean those areas. We have to insulate those areas and this job can be done by the police. I tried this in Tripura. I didn’t get the help of the army there. I think this is the time the army should go to the border and prepare to take on China. There is an immediate threat to the North East and the entire country from China. China and China only,” he said. The ‘draconian’ act has been condemned by the civil society and over the years protests against the misuse of the act have been growing stronger. The demand to repeal the act was reiterated once again after a Gauhati High Court verdict on 9 March this year. In its order, the high court, after 29 years, ordered the Central government to pay Rs 20 lakh each as compensation within two months to the next of kin of five youths who were killed by the army at Dangari in Tinsukia district in 1994. The five deceased were Prabin Sonowal, Akhil Sonowal, Debojit Biswas, Bhaben Moran and Pradip Dutta. The army picked up nine youths between 17 and 19 February, 1994, after the assassination of the general manager of a tea garden in the Talap area of Tinsukia district. Following the atrocity of the army personnel, the All Assam Students’ Union launched a massive statewide protest seeking justice for the five deceased. The high court issued its order after a habeas corpus petition was filed by then AASU leader Jagadish Bhuyan and Dipak Dutta, a relative of one of the deceased. Human rights activists in the NE have been continuously fighting against the injustice caused by the misuse of the act. “AFSPA gives the power to search, seize, or shoot anybody without conviction. The army is trained to fight foreign powers on their borders and deploying them in civil society is a matter of objection worldwide. Generally, the army is not trained to deal with civil society. They have so much power under this law that they are not answerable to anybody. We have fought so many cases in the high court. In many instances, they gave verdicts that the army did wrong, yet they can’t be convicted. They are indulging in cold-blooded murder, rapes and various other crimes. It’s an anti-democratic act and with the help of this act, the army seemingly operated a parallel government. We have seen in Manipur they even fired on court premises. So they don’t follow anything. The UN has also recommended repealing this act. This should have actually gone long ago,” said Assam human rights activist Lachit Bardoloi. AFSPA is despised by Assam and the whole North East for various controversial and anti-democratic treatments in civil society. Over the decades, the voice to retract the draconian law has become only stronger. The North East has been protesting about all atrocities done by army personnel in different places where human rights violations under AFSPA have been frequent. The act gives unchecked power to the Armed Forces and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) deployed in “Disturbed Areas” to kill anyone acting in contravention of the law; arrest and search any premises without a warrant; and protect them from prosecution and legal suits without the Central government’s sanction. This act was passed by Parliament in the year 1958. The act basically came to deal with an insurgency that was rampant in northeastern states after Independence. The controversy around AFSPA is that it allows security personnel to use force and shoot “even to the cause of death” if they are convinced that it is necessary to do so for the “maintenance of public order”. It also gives executive powers to the army by which they can enter premises, search, and arrest without a warrant. The exercise of these extraordinary powers by the armed forces has often led to allegations of fake encounters, rapes and other human rights violations. Meanwhile, Assam is gearing up for the complete withdrawal of the act. Its neighbouring state, Manipur, has made a contrasting decision by seeking an extension of the act. In the wake of recent violence, the state cabinet has recently recommended maintaining a status quo and sought an extension of AFSPA for another 6 months, as quoted in recent media reports. This is now drawing criticism from the people who are fighting to repeal the act. “Our position is very clear. AFSPA is a lawless law. Former home minister P Chidambaram has described it as an obnoxious act. Jeevan Reddy’s committee has called it an instrument of oppression, a symbol of discrimination. The UN Human Rights Commission has called it an emergency law. It has no place in a democratic country. If the military has to operate, they can operate under 133 CrPC like many other parts of the country, if there is. If there is a communal riot in Mumbai, the army can do a flag march under CrPC Section 133. The problem is that they are not doing this in Manipur because they are not there to protect people, so they don’t have any place in Manipur. If Manipur is part of India, AFSPA has to go. The Manipur government is doing nothing now. Manipur is in a state of statelessness! Whatever the Manipur government is doing is not to protect people, they are working with some vested interest. We don’t need this law. With or without AFSPA, the Manipur government is protecting none. MHA should look into the recommendation of its own commission, which is the Jeevan Reddy committee’s recommendations that are very clear to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act,” said Manipur Human Rights Activist Babloo Loitongbam. Complete withdrawal of AFSPA has been a long-standing demand in Assam and NE and if the Central government makes the move in the direction of a recommendation by Assam, then it will definitely be a positive change in the sense of alienation often mentioned by NE people. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.