By Sujit Chakraborty
The killing of 14 persons in Mon district of Nagaland on December 4, 21 years after the ‘Malom massacre’ of 10 people in Manipur, both by the security forces, triggered a strong demand for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) from the entire northeastern region.
In November 2000, 10 people were killed by the para-military forces at a bus stop at Malom Makha Leikai in Manipur’s Imphal West District and immediately after that rights activist Irom Sharmila went on a hunger strike that continued for 16 long years demanding the repeal of the AFSPA.
Sharmila’s hunger strike had rocked the entire northeast region against the AFSPA and drew the attention of the country and the world to this contentious act.
Twenty one years after Manipur’s ‘Malom massacre’, the killing of 14 people in Nagaland again vociferously raised the demand to repeal or withdraw the Act. Senior officials of the central para-military forces and other security officials on condition of anonymity separately told IANS that the situation had improved a lot in the region and militancy was also tamed, but withdrawing AFSPA at the moment would be risky considering the situation in certain parts of the region and in neighbouring Myanmar, where several northeast militant outfits have taken shelter.
The AFSPA, which allows the Army and other central para-military forces to conduct raids, operations, arrest anyone anywhere without prior notice or arrest warrant, is in force in Nagaland, Assam, Manipur barring the Imphal municipal council area and certain districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Tripura is the only state in the northeastern region where AFSPA was withdrawn in May 2015 by the then Left Front government led by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar after terror activities were tamed.
The AFSPA was also lifted from the bordering areas of Meghalaya in 2018.
The Union Home Ministry from time to time reviewing the security situation extends the period of AFSPA from six months to one year.
Political commentator in the northeast region and writer Sushanta Talukdar said: “The December 4 and 5 Nagaland incidents are likely to find Naga rebel groups hardening their positions on their demand for repeal of the AFPSA, making the task tougher for the government and the Centre’s interlocutor besides hampering the ongoing peace dialogue with the NSCN (IM) and other groups.”
“A breakdown in the peace talks will hold the civilians hostage to an armed conflict situation for an uncertain period. The AFSPA issue is hanging like the Damocles sword over the Central Government,” Talukdar told IANS.
In November 2004, the Central government appointed a five-member committee headed by Justice (retd) B. P. Jeevan Reddy to review the provisions of the act in the northeastern states.
The committee, which submitted its report in June 2005, had recommended that AFSPA should be repealed and appropriate provisions should be inserted in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The Unlawful Activities Act should be modified to clearly specify the powers of the armed forces and paramilitary forces and grievance cells should be set up in each district where the armed forces are deployed.
Author and political commentator Sanjoy Hazarika, who was also a member of the Jeevan Reddy panel, has been suggesting withdrawing the AFSPA from the entire northeastern region.
Terming the AFSPA as “draconian”, National People’s Party (NPP) MP Agatha Sangma demanded that the government repeal the act and accept the Jeevan Reddy committee recommendations.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in his series of comments after the December 4 killings, said that the firing by the security forces that left 14 civilians dead and 30 injured, was a misuse and abuse of the AFSPA which “is violative of human rights” and opposed by the Naga people for decades.
Rio had said: “We have been asking the government to repeal the AFSPA from the entire country. This is a draconian law. There are so many acts and provisions to deal with the insurgency. India is a great democratic nation. Such an act and its misuse damages the image of the country.”
The Nagaland Chief Minister’s comments were echoed by Meghalaya Chief Minister and NPP President Conrad K. Sangma.
“The AFSPA did not help much in containing the militancy in the northeastern region. To curb the insurgency in the region, the government should take other approaches including inclusive development and ethnic friendly schemes,” Sangma said.
Except the Bharatiya Janata Party, all major political parties including the Congress, CPI-M, CPI, Trinamool Congress, Naga People’s Front (NPF), National People’s Party (NPP), Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and almost all local and regional parties have been demanding the repeal of the AFSPA.
The NPP, NPF, IPFT and NDPP are the ruling allies of the BJP in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur.
While demanding repeal of the AFSPA and a court monitored probe into the killing of 14 civilians by armed forces personnel, the influential Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) in a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Nagaland government to probe the December 4 incident would not do justice to the wilful acts of the armed forces under the protection of the repressive AFSPA.
Detailing the incidents of “killing and torture by the security forces since 1960”, in Nagaland, the memorandum said that the “government of India continued to suppress the legitimate people’s movement through military means even after having realised that the same would not reap the desired dividends”.
“Some Indian leaders are coming out publicly to defend the atrocious acts and thereby legitimising the murders, tortures, rapes, molestations of innocent Naga civilians and botched army operations, deeply hurting the sentiments of the Naga people while also flaring up our emotions,” the six-page memorandum said on Friday.
The Nagaland government would hold a special session of the Assembly on Monday to discuss and pass a resolution for repealing the AFSPA.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
