Manipur: Anti-AFSP Act campaign gets boost

The campaign for repealing the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has got a big boost with a film, AFSPA 1958, made by Haobam Paban Kumar, adjudged the best film in the non-feature category in the recent national film awards. Kumar himself was surprised how the government (in this case the Ministry of I&B) considered selecting his work for the best film award.

The Act, which gives power to the armed forces to even shoot down a person just on suspicion, also received another blow last week. It was through Meghalaya Governor R S Mooshahary, a former top-cop, who said that the AFSP Act had long become irrelevant in Manipur.