{"id":17324,"date":"2011-09-14T22:55:48","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T02:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/?p=23602"},"modified":"2011-09-14T22:55:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T02:55:48","slug":"what-the-heck-do-we-know-of-afspa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/2011\/09\/14\/what-the-heck-do-we-know-of-afspa\/","title":{"rendered":"What the heck do we know of AFSPA?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_product='wpp-252';var addthis_options=\"Google+1\"<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=kanglaonline\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>By: A Bimol Akoijam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>To all those who seem to have a problem when I talk of \u201cTragedy of de-linking the political premise of AFSPA\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Read the following excerpts:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>(1)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Calling  Naxalism a bigger challenge then terrorism and insurgency, Union home  minister P Chidabaram on Tuesday said&#8230;&#8221;The most violent movement in  India is not terrorism or insurgency but Left-wing extremism&#8221;&#8230;[t]he  burden of the governance cannot be shifted from the state governments to  the central government&#8230;.in the ultimate analysis, the responsibility  of governance in the Left-wing extremism affected districts must rest  with the states&#8221;<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u00a0 \u00a0 <em>Naxalism is a bigger challenge than terrorism &#8211; Chidambaram<\/em>, Time of India, page no 11, dated 14 September, 2011)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(2)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Irom  Sharmila presents a more complex choice before the average citizen. For  Manipuris, she is a homegrown heroine\u2026[b]ut for those outside Manipur,  she is just as likely to be seen as someone who is questioning the  majesty of the Indian state\u2026 there are enough number of others who will  see\u2026Irom Sharmila&#8217;s fast \u2026as a challenge to the Indian state much in the  manner that any popular movement in Jammu and Kashmir is seen as a  threat to national sovereignty\u201d\u2026<\/strong> <strong>[t]he imposition of a  draconian law like AFSPA, be it in Manipur or Jammu and Kashmir, reveals  a crisis of governance. Indeed, both Manipur and Kashmir have suffered  because of corrupt politics as much as they have from violence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <em>Rajdeep Sardesai, Irom\u2019s cause is riskier to support. Anna is safe<\/em>, IBNlive blogs<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ASK YOURSELF: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(i) <\/strong><strong>Do these observations have anything to do with the AFSPA?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(ii) <\/strong><strong>Where  do the familiar arguments like \u201cAFSPA gives powers to the NCO\u201d and the  \u201cRight to life has been jeopardized\u201d etc stand vis-\u00e0-vis these  observations?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(4)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DO THE FOLLOWING OBSERVATIONS MAKE SENSE?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(A)  The Act addresses a reality in our real world, that is, armed  insurgency which purportedly threatens the \u201cnational security\u201d (ie  undermining the territorial integrity and constitutional order of the  Indian State). In Manipuri, that phenomenon is called \u201ckhutlai paiba  lalhouba\u201d (or \u201carmed rebellion\u201d; here it must be noted that \u201cinsurgency\u201d  is a synonym for \u201crebellion\u201d).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>And yet,  the Supreme Court Judgment has categorically insisted that the  \u201cdisturbed condition\u201d wherein the Act has been enforced is not due to  \u201carmed rebellion\u201d. It even says that the said \u201ccondition\u201d does not  constitute a threat to the \u201csecurity of the nation\u201d! If the Act is not  about the \u201cdisturbed condition\u201d related to \u201ckhutlai paiba lalhouba\u201d (or  \u201carmed rebellion\u201d) or it doesn\u2019t threaten the national security, what is  it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Having failed to address or remained  ignorant of such basic questions, many have failed to understand the  Act itself. For instance, the violence which is being exercised by the  State through AFSPA is fundamentally based on or derived from the  violence to \u201cinstitute order\u201d rather than \u201cviolence to preserve order\u201d.  The AFSPA is a violence to institute \u201cIndian-ness\u201d or the legitimacy of  \u201cIndian State\u201d in specific areas and their inhabitants wherein the  \u201cIndian-ness\u201d are problematic. That is why the Act has not been imposed  in all those areas that have \u201carmed insurgency\u201d. It is imposed only in  those places wherein \u201cIndian-ness\u201d has become problematic for the Indian  State (Northeast, Kashmir, and briefly Punjab), not in those areas  wherein \u201cIndian-ness\u201d has not been seen as a problem as such, albeit  affected by armed insurgency (ie leftist insurgency in \u201cmainland\u201d  India).<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014 <\/strong><em>AFSPA as \u201cAnother 9\/11\u201d \u2014Reality beyond rhetoric and dubious knowledge of ground reality<\/em>, The Sangai Express, dated 14 September, 2011<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(B)  Interestingly, all this while the protestors are busy while barking at  the \u201cbare act\u201d of AFSPA with their increasingly redundant legal  arguments, the Government of India does not and will not de-link what it  thinks the Act is addressing while thinking about AFSPA.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <em>AFSPA: Tragedy of Delinking Its Political Premise<\/em>, Imphal Free Press, dated 11 September, 2001<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(5) <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take note<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(a)  The use of expressions by Union Home Minister, which need your  attention\/your own reasons, to clarify the meaning and politics of the  categories\/terms (&#8220;insurgency&#8221;, &#8220;terrorism&#8221;, &#8220;extremism&#8221;), his comment  on \u201cgovernance\u201d <strong>vis-\u00e0-vis <\/strong>Central and State Governments  (ostensibly as an instrument of \u201claw and order, which is a State  subject under the Constitution) and the fact that AFSPA can be imposed  by the Central Government after the amendment to the Act in 1972.  (Anyone who had watched the programme on CNN-IBN recently\u2026remember the  remark of a retired General of the Indian Army that placed the  responsibility entirely on the State Government)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(b)  Ask youself, why is that the protest against an Act which subverts the  premise of the claim of being a \u201cDemocratic Republic\u201d is seen as  \u201canti-national\u201d while those who support the subversion become  \u201cnationalists\u201d (with reference to Rajdeep Sardesai\u2019s write-up which  speaks of a truth nonetheless).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(C) Confession: To my fellow citizens, particularly Northeasterners and more specifically Manipuris; <\/strong><strong>Have written and argued a lot on this issue over the years, and frankly I am getting tired now; <\/strong><strong>if you still have problem on the idea of the &#8220;political premise&#8221; of the Act, please do <strong>check out, amongst others, <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(i) Another 9\/11. Another Act of Terror: The Embedded Disorder of AFSPA, in Bare Acts (CSDS-Sarai, 2005)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(ii) AFSPA: Smoke Screen of a Political Act, Imphal Free Press, dated 22 May, 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>(6)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Price of Political Disconnect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpus wpus_box wpus_box_small wpus_box_green wpus_right\"><em class=\"wpus_\"><\/em>Fiasco of 2007 Assembly Election wherein AFSPA couldn\u2019t become a   political issue in Manipur and a possibility that history may repeat   itself once again in 2012!<\/div>\n<p><\/strong><strong>(A) <strong>A  racially grounded nationalist ethos continues to perpetuate an inhumane  and politically dangerous politics, of which AFSPA becomes a naked  display of lies and dishonesty and an instrument that seeks to  legitimize the unleashing of an illegitimate violence by the state  agencies.<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(B)\u00a0<strong>A  discriminatory politics that subverts and deprives a civilized life  (based on the principle of democratic ethos and dignity of the people)  continues for decades with an ominous additional promise of life without  dignity and well-being for many more years to come. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(C)  the delinking of the political premise of the AFSPA has allowed the  subversion of a civilised democratic life while simultaneously  strengthening the denial and distortions of the nature of the  historically rooted (and contemporary) socio-political issues that  affect our collective life for decades. Consequently, our capacity to  address and deal with our troubled situation in an informed, honest,  purposeful and realistic manner has also been seriously jeopardised.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em>AFSPA as \u201cAnother 9\/11\u201d \u2014Reality beyond rhetoric and dubious knowledge of ground reality<\/em>, The Sangai Express, dated 14 September, 2011<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>(D)  Fiasco of 2007 Assembly Election wherein AFSPA couldn\u2019t become a  political issue in Manipur and a possibility that history may repeat  itself once again in 2012!<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=dd2fd282-c359-4659-8b69-aba64c69dbbd\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">Read more \/ Original news source: <a href=\"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/2011\/09\/what-the-heck-do-we-know-of-afspa\/\">http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/2011\/09\/what-the-heck-do-we-know-of-afspa\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: A Bimol Akoijam To all those who seem to have a problem when I talk of \u201cTragedy of de-linking the political premise of AFSPA\u201d Read the following excerpts: (1)&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/2011\/09\/what-the-heck-do-we-know-of-afspa\/\">Read more <span>&#187;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[265,870,64,449,33,827,257,330,639,871],"class_list":["post-17324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kanglaonline","category-news","tag-armed-forces-special-powers-act-1958","tag-cnn-ibn","tag-government-of-india","tag-imphal-free-press","tag-india","tag-indian-army","tag-irom-chanu-sharmila","tag-kanglaonline-2","tag-notes-from-bimol-akoijam","tag-rajdeep-sardesai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}