After the killings of 14 civilians in Nagaland by security forces, demands for the repeal of AFSPA have been reinvigorated.
What movies show on tabloid is often a dramatized version of the contemporary society. But some movies, on the contrary, leave a lasting impact on viewers because they portray the realities accurately. One such scene is from the Hindi movie ‘Haider’ directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. Actor Shahid Kapoor gives an impassioned monologue which includes a comment on AFSPA, a controversial act imposed in Jammu & Kashmir since 1990.
Saavdhan
Armed forces special powers act section 5 , rule 4 point A
Any Commissioned officer, Jee Janaab..
Warrant officer , Jee Janaab..
Non commissioned officer , Jee Janaab..
or any other person of the equivalent rank in the armed forces may, in a disturbed area if he is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of the public order and after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death…………. against anyone acting in the contravention with law or order.
Though, the reason why we are talking about AFSPA today is not related to Jammu and Kashmir. The debate over the necessity of the act has returned back in political discourse of the country because of the North-Eastern state of Nagaland.
The Nagaland Tragedy
Tensions reign in Nagaland after the killing of 14 civilians by soldiers.
Authorities have shut down internet services and imposed a curfew to quell mass protests.
Violence started on Saturday when an army patrol in Mon district mistook a group of labourers for militants and opened fire, killing six.
The army called it a “case of mistaken identity” but locals reject the claim.
An Indian soldier and seven more people died as angry locals clashed with the troops in the region. On Sunday afternoon, another civilian was killed by forces after protesters attacked an army camp.
This incident, however, has once again propped up demands to repeal AFSPA, an act which gives sweeping powers to Indian Army in disturbed areas.
Angry over armed forces troops killing 13 civilians in an "ambush blunder" December 4 evening, locals in #Nagaland's #Mon town attack Assam rifles camp on December 5.
Credit: @rahconteurpic.twitter.com/9TaPawWP8Z
— Arvind Chauhan अरविंद चौहान (@Arv_Ind_Chauhan) December 5, 2021
What is AFSPA?
Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 is an act of the Parliament of India that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
According to the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976 once declared ‘disturbed’, the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 3 months. One such act passed on 11 September 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam. In the following decades it spread, one by one, to the other Seven Sister States in India’s northeast (at present, it is in force in the States of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur {excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area}, Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of the eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering the State of Assam. Another one passed in 1983 and applicable to Punjab and Chandigarh was withdrawn in 1997, roughly 14 years after it came to force. An act passed in 1990 was applied to Jammu and Kashmir and has been in force since.
Full text available: https://legislative.gov.in
History of AFSPA
First promulgated by the British on 15 August 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement, AFSPA was later modeled into four ordinances. The Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the Assam Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the East Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the United provinces Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance were invoked by the central government to deal with the internal security situation in the country in 1947 which emerged due to the Partition of India. Article 355 of the Constitution of India confers power to the Central Government to protect every state from internal disturbance.
After the independence, when the Assam Rifles and the state armed police could not contain the Naga rebellion and the rebel Naga Nationalist Council (NNC) formed a parallel government, he Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 was promulgated by the President Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 22 May 1958. It was replaced by the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 on 11 September 1958.
As insurgency spread across the seven sister states, the territorial scope of the act also expanded to Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. In addition, the words “The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958” were substituted by “Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958”, getting the acronym of AFSPA, 1958.
Similar acts were enacted in Punjab and Chandigarh in 1983 and later in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 in the wake of militancy.
The acts have received criticism from several sections for alleged concerns about human rights violations in the regions of its enforcement alleged to have happened. The acts give multiple sweeping powers to armed forces including a permission to fire upon or use other kinds of force even if it causes death, against the person who is acting against law or order in the disturbed area for the maintenance of public order.
Former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti in a demonstration against AFSPA.
Reports of excessive use of power
The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a “tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination”.
South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre argues: “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.
A report by the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis points to multiple occurrences of violence by security forces against civilians in Manipur since the passage of the act.
Irom Chanu Sharmila also known as the “Iron Lady of Manipur” or “Mengoubi” (“the fair one”) is a civil rights activist, political activist, and poet from the Indian state of Manipur, who began a hunger strike in 2000 after ten civilians were shot and killed while waiting at a bus stop. Her hunger strike ended on 9 August 2016 after 16 years.
There have been claims of disappearances by the police or the army in Kashmir by several human rights organizations.
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.”
Demands for repeal
The Nagaland killings of civilians have reinvigorated demands for repeal of AFSPA. Villagers came out in Mon district of Nagaland, where the killings took place, to protest and demand repeal of AFSPA.
Bands of villagers have come out to protest in Mon, #Nagaland along the road to Oting. Their placards say "Justice for Konyak", "Repeal AFSPA" and "Justice for the victims". @ThePrintIndia pic.twitter.com/LEXGuJwBI2
— Angana Chakrabarti (@AnganaCk) December 6, 2021
AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owasi in parliament said AFSPA is a symbol of oppression and an object of hate which should be repealed.
Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, reacting on the killings, told ANI: “I’ve spoken to Union Home Minister, he is taking the matter very seriously. We’ve given financial assistance to affected families. We’re asking Central govt to remove AFSPA from Nagaland. This law has blackened the image of our country.”
Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma tweeted: “AFSPA should be repealed”.
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