For sixteen long years, the nation of India has consistently seen a disturbing image of a young woman traveling in her third decade of life being forcibly put down a throat tube by security forces and pouring some liquid food into her stomach. The young woman was Irom Sharmila, who had gone on a hunger strike in November 2000 to protest against the death of 10 civilians in firing by a contingent of the Assam Rifles near the airport in Manipur’s capital Imphal. Initially there was opposition to firing and deaths, but soon Irom’s main demand became to completely repeal the law, which gave the army undemocratic rights such as arrest, search or firing on civilians. The fast continued for the next 16 years and became a symbol of non-violent civil resistance against state excesses all over the world.
The AFSPA or Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act came into existence in 1958 due to the armed separatist movement in Nagaland, which was then a part of the Assam province and within a few years from Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura to Jammu and Kashmir. Till it came into force. Its seeds were planted in the Quit India Movement of 1942, when the British gave the army the right to take action against civilians. When this law was enacted in independent India, Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had assured that it would be removed within six months, but it continues to exist even after 60 years.
The reasons for the making of such laws can be traced to the struggle of a newly independent territory to become a nation-state. The biggest problem before the country, which gained independence in 1947, was to make a multilingual, multi-religious or multi-cultural society a nation-state in the true sense and then keep it united. In such difficult times when separatist forces were running separatist movements in many areas, even pro-democratic Prime Minister Nehru had to resort to non-democratic legislation like AFSPA. The problem came when it could not be removed even after six months as promised. Its duration kept on increasing, new areas came under its sphere of influence.
Sporadic reports of misuse of this law or public anger against it continued to be published, but it is also a bitter truth that the excesses happening in these remote areas in this continent do not show the kind of wounds on our soul, which can be expected in a civilized society. Could. That is why when Irom Sharmila abruptly ended his fast on 9 August 2016, one of the reasons cited by him was the neglect of the government. She was disappointed that their fast and the AFSPA were going together for a long time and the thinking of the governments was not being affected. No less disappointing was the attitude of the public. After rising from the fast, Irom contested the assembly elections in 2017 by forming a political party and himself got less than a hundred votes. The message was clear, human rights for both the organs of the state – the government and the people – have still not become a very provocative issue.
Some of the disturbing AFSPA cases happened in independent India that at times the judiciary had to pass out of line orders. A case also came before the Supreme Court in Manipur over the years in which 1,528 civilians were killed in ‘fake’ encounters. In this, he made harsh comments and expressed his intention to get these incidents investigated. This decision has brought immediate relief in Manipur, but still disturbing incidents keep happening in other areas. Recently, more than a dozen laborers returning from a day’s hard work from a coal mine in Nagaland’s Mon district were killed in unintentional firing by a military contingent. AFSPA once again came into the limelight due to this unfortunate incident. This time, in some assemblies, resolutions to remove it have also been passed. One positive outcome of the Mon incident was that the central government had to appoint an expert committee which, after time bound deliberations, recommended the removal of AFSPA, at least in a large part of the Northeast, and the government recommended its removal. Notification has also been issued. It should be expected that this law will be removed from the rest of the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir soon. Unfortunately, sometimes even vested interests arise in the fight against terrorism. That is why I believe that any major policy decision can be taken only by the political leadership. He has to take such decisions after talking to all the stakeholders, which will strengthen democracy. If the armed forces are to be believed, then the special law will not be removed from any area.
Removal of AFSPA from a large part of Northeast is a big development which should be welcomed by all democracy lovers. There should be a consensus that military forces should not be used to deal with their civilians. His equipment and training are to deal with the enemy and you cannot declare your citizens as enemies. There should not be excessive use of force by the armed forces. The discontent of its citizens must be resolved through political will and dialogue. In exceptional cases, if force has to be used, the local police is the best option. For this, the shortage of the army can be filled by improving its numbers, equipment and training. We have a living example of Punjab, where as soon as the Punjab Police started fighting, the dice turned.
(These are the author’s own views)