KHELEN THOKCHOM IN IMPHAL
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| Irom Sharmila |
Civilians have fallen to
paramilitary bullets. Women have stripped down in protest. And a hunger
strike has lasted more than a decade. Manipur has seen it all.
But if there has been one constant from 1958 — and through every election since — it’s a hated five-letter acronym, AFSPA.
AFSPA, or the
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, was passed by Parliament in 1958 to
contain Naga militancy in Assam and Manipur. Nagaland, which became a
state in 1963, was then a part of Assam and the Naga National Council
was in the middle of an armed movement to free Naga areas from Indian
rule.
Today, more than
half a century on, Manipur has over 40 militant groups with varying
objectives, including secession. And the act, which gives sweeping
powers to the armed forces, continues to be in force, despite stiff
opposition.
For nearly 14
years, this opposition has had a face — one Irom Sharmila who has, since
November 2000, been on a protest fast and in and out of jail, demanding
its repeal. Now the upcoming Lok Sabha elections have given contesting
parties yet another platform for protest.
Manipur’s two Lok
Sabha seats — Outer Manipur and Inner Manipur — vote on April 9 and
April 17. The Congress, which is in power in the state, now represents
both.
The BJP, the Naga
People’s Front, CPI and one Independent candidate in Outer Manipur have
released their manifestos. They have promised to either withdraw the act
from the state or have it repealed.
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The Congress is yet to release its manifesto but had asked Sharmila to join the party. She refused.
Instead, she has extended her support to the Aam Aadmi Party although she turned down its offer to nominate her.
“Political parties wake up to the act and Sharmila only when there is an election,” said social anthropologist M.C. Arun.
“When Sharmila
began her hunger strike in November 2000, the government remained
indifferent. But when the entire people in Manipur rose as one violently
against the act after Assam Rifles troops shot dead Thangjam Manorama —
a girl from Imphal East — after raping her, the Okram Ibobi Singh
government was compelled to withdraw the act from seven Assembly
constituencies in August 2004.”
A dozen women had
then staged a naked protest in front of the Assam Rifles base at Kangla
Fort, demanding punishment for those who had arrested and shot dead the
32-year-old.
Sharmila began her
fast on November 5, 2000, after Assam Rifles troops killed 10 civilians
at Malom, about 6km south of Imphal, in retaliation to a militant
attack.
While Opposition
parties have accused successive Ibobi Singh governments as being against
a complete withdrawal of the act, the chief minister takes credit for
partially withdrawing it despite the Centre’s reservations. “We have
started withdrawing the act and will continue to do so as the situation
improves. The Opposition parties cannot do that,” he said.
In 2004, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh had said the act would be replaced with one that
was more humane. A recommendation by the Justice Jeevan Reddy
Commission to repeal the act — which it said had become “a symbol of
oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and
high handedness” — is gathering dust.
The act was
promulgated first in today’s Tamenglong and Ukhrul districts, inhabited
predominantly by Nagas, before it was extended to the entire state in
1980. While it gives armed forces sweeping powers to use force, even to
the extent of causing death, members of the armed forces cannot be
prosecuted without sanction from the Centre.
The Supreme Court
is hearing two identical petitions filed by Human Rights Alert, Manipur,
and the Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur.
The petitioners want a special investigation team to be set up to probe
1,528 alleged fake encounter deaths.
The court had
handed over six of these cases to the Justice Santosh Hegde
Commission, which concluded they were fake encounters. In its report to
the court, the commission had also endorsed the Reddy panel’s
observation.
Babloo Loitongbam,
a leading rights defender, said citizen bodies had brought out a
manifesto this year, called People’s Manifesto, which has the act’s
repeal on top of the agenda. “The problem is we have only two MPs in
Parliament…. But we will continue to fight till the act goes.”
But the lives of
the families of victims will never be the same again. “They (police
commandos) gunned down my husband in broad daylight along with two of
his friends. I may live in peace if the culprits are punished and AFSPA
is repealed,” said Renu Takhellambam, the president of the
Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families Association.
As for Sharmila, she continues to be force-fed through the nose.
Manipur votes on April 9 and April 17
