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| Women vendors hold a silent protest in Imphal on Thursday, demanding repeal of the army act. Telegraph picture |
Sept. 12 : Women vendors of Imphal
today joined the campaign against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
by holding a silent protest in the three women’s market complexes in the
city.
Today’s
demonstration, under giant-sized banners denouncing AFSPA, with Irom
Sharmila’s pictures, marked 56 years of enforcement of the act. It was
on this day in 1958 that the act came into force.
“The silent
protest by women vendors is organised to renew the demand for repeal of
the act,” Ksh. Onil, a rights crusader of Manipur, said.
NGOs from across
the Northeast met in Guwahati and decided to lobby with MPs from the
region to take up the repeal of the act, which is in force in the
region, in Parliament.
Just Peace
Foundation, a rights group, observed this day in Imphal as “invisible
9/11” to highlight that it was on this day the “draconian” act, also
known as “army act”, came into force. The entire state of Manipur was
brought under the act in 1980 after heightened militant activities
disturbed law and order situation.
The foundation is supporting the cause of Irom Sharmila who has been on a fast since November 2000 demanding repeal of the act.
Before the silent
sit-ins at the entrances of the three market complexes in Imphal, rights
crusaders led by Onil put up banners that read “Stop state terrorism,
56 years of AFSPA is not temporary measure.” The protesters sat silently
with their mouths tied with black cloth. Police, however, did not
disperse them.
“As long as they
(protesters) do not create any problem by coming out on the streets or
shouting slogans we will allow their silent protest,” a police officer
said.
A large number of
police personnel, including women police, were deployed around the
market complexes. At 2pm, the women vendors came out and sat for about
half-an-hour with the protesters.
“The day the armed
forces act was enforced is a black day. The silent sit-in has been
organised to remind the Centre and the state government led by Okram
Ibobi Singh that the people of Manipur will not remain silent till the
act is withdrawn,” Shakhi Devi, a woman vendor, said.
After the sit-in by vendors, rights activists held a panel discussion on the impact of the act on common people of the state.
In Guwahati, a
convention against AFSPA was attended by representatives of the Centre
for Research and Advocacy, Human Rights Alert, Manab Adhikar Sangram
Samiti, WinG-India, North East Dialogue Forum and the Borok People Human
Rights Organisation.
Babloo Loitongbam, the executive director of Human Rights Alert, told The Telegraph that
apart from lobbying with the MPs, today’s convention took resolution to
strengthen their movement against AFSPA by involving different people’s
movements such as those fighting against unsustainable big dams in the
region.
Anjuman Ara Begum,
human rights activist and member of WinG-India, an NGO, expressed
concern over incidents of sexual violence against women by security
forces while executing the AFSPA.
“Let the 56th year
be the last anniversary of AFSPA in the Northeast as many innocent
people have suffered due to the draconian act,” Bubumoni Goswami,
secretary of Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti of Assam, said.
In Meghalaya,
AFSPA is applicable to 20km along the border with Assam. A public
meeting in Shillong today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his
government not to extend the act’s operation, but to get it repealed by
Parliament.
“This (repealing
of the act) will ensure that the common citizens will not have their
rights to free movement curtailed and cut short,” meeting convener Rev.
P.B.M. Basaiawmoit said in a letter to Modi.
Such a law
“actually makes a laughing stock of democracy”, he added. Basaiawmoit
reminded that for more than two decades, representations have been made
to the Centre and state governments by citizens’ forums, civil society
organisations, including faith-based organisations, and in particular by
the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) for repealing of the
AFSPA.
