MNS: – A. Application for AFSPA and its extension is not on sound reasoning :-
(a) Because if the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act 1958 is not withdrawn from the State of Manipur by giving the peace a chance to prevail, then in the name of disturbed Area the widespread deployment of the Armed Forces is creating an alarming environment in which the exception becomes the rule. Ultimately the use of lethal force without due respect to human rights of a human being and fundamental rights of the citizen, is seen as the primary response to any so called insurgent related incident with a concomitant permissible approach in respect of the use of lethal force.
(b) Because the legal mechanism has failed to ensure any remedial measure regarding the abuse or misuse of the power by the personnel of the Armed Forces. They cannot be held accountable for any of their illegal and inhuman action by dishonoring the spirit and provisions of Constitution of India.
(c ) Because the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgment of Naga people’s Movement of Human Rights (supra) directed in clause 8 para 74 “ a declaration under section 3 has to be for a limited duration and there should be periodic review of the declaration before the expiry of 6 months”. It is pertinent to mention here that the concerned authorities /Governments are doing the same as a routine in a mechanical way without reviewing the ground situation properly to serve some of their interest.
(d) Because the declaration of disturbed areas has allowed the armed forces to over write the fundamental right as well as human rights in a much intrusive way as in the case under a state of emergency by suspending the right to life. It is most respectfully submitted that the State of Manipur has become a troubled State because of the Act and it is no longer a disturbed State.
(e) Because the policy of the Govt. extending /renewing the declaration of Disturbed area in Manipur, so as to enable to apply the AFSPA in the state, is based on apprehension and not depending on any specific data of showing increase in violence or uncontrollable disturbance in the civil administration. It is most respectfully submitted that the Govt. is renewing the disturbed area without applying its mind as if it is a mandatory review. In fact the policy of the State in respect of AFSPA is subjective but not objective.
B. Basically a normal law & order problem with decrease in number of violent incidents :- (f) Because what is basically happening in Manipur is a simple (not a grave) law and order situation. Maximum incidents relating to the present violence scenario are intimidation, ransom demands, ransom related arrests, random killing (not encounter) etc which are supporting the basic hypothesis of simple law & order problems. It is most respectfully submitted that actual encounters between the armed forces and the insurgents /militants are very very limited. State police force alone can tackle the present problems very effectively if sincere efforts are made.
(g) Because at the present situation the need of “in the aid of civil power” effecting maintenance of public order which has necessitated the deployment of the armed force in the State is not required.
It is most respectfully submitted that the State is not as disturbed or in dangerous condition so as to form an opinion that the use of armed forces is necessary in aid of the civil power. It is pertinent to mention here that the governance of State of Manipur has been performing smoothly by popularly elected Govt. doing its civil administration effectively. The 10th Assembly election of the State was conducted recently and the congress party has won 42 seats out of the 60 Assembly seats and the State has a stable government effectively maintaining its public order and civil power.
It is further most respectfully submitted that General V.K. Singh, the then Army Chief, even stated that the image of Manipur being a violent state is not seen any more nowadays.
It is submitted that the State Government has shown the improvement in the law and order situation by writing its willingness to hand over the 398 kms. of border with Mynamar to BSF personnel in place of Assam Rifles.
(h) Because in the present atmosphere of Manipur in respect of law and order situation, where the civil authorities of the Government are functioning smoothly and there is hardly any direct confrontation between the army & the insurgent groups and specially where many groups are in the process of peace talk with Union of India, the role of army is very much negligible and the state police is competent enough to tackle the situation. It is most respectfully submitted that if we analyze the track record of violence incidents of the last 2-3 years, it is evident that most of the arrest and killing of the members of the insurgent groups have been done by the local police commandos only. (That also majority of the same are fake encounters, motivated by their hidden agenda).
(i) Because as per the two case studies conducted by the petitioner, by analyzing the violent incidents in Manipur – one can easily comes to the conclusion that AFSPA can neither prevent violence nor suppress the insurgents /militants. It clearly shows that on the contrary, AFSPA has forced to increase militants activities from previous militant groups of about 20 in the year 2000 to about 40 in the year 2012. It is most respectfully submitted that violent incidents, encounter death, arrest/capture of militants are taking place both in AFSPA and non-AFSPA areas. Hence AFSPA has become irrelevant in the present context of Manipur and its necessity as claimed by Defence Ministry is a hoax.
(j) Because the State of Manipur can tackle the present situation with the help of local police alone without taking refuge under the cover of AFSPA is vividly demonstrated by withdrawing AFSPA from the Imphal Municipality area. It is most respectfully submitted that without AFSPA, the relation between the security force and people of Manipur has become very coordinal and law and order situation is improving dramatically.
C. Many human right violations :-
(k ) Because the harsh reality is that the members of the armed forces stationed in Manipur for the purpose of aiding civilian authority in the event of insurgency problem, belong to a distinctively different ethnic group (in a over whelming majority) than the local indigenous people. They do not speak the local native languages & dialects and are culturally alien. So they generally view and consider the entire population of Manipur are hostile to them and as such prone to use excessive or unprovoked use of power, resulting to death, torture, sexual abuse, arbitrary detention, inhuman ill treatment etc.
(l) Because the Act as a matter of fact suspense non- derogable human rights, primarily the right to life. It is most respectfully submitted that the Act in present form and the way it is being used is a brazen affront to the right to life and it sanctions impunity and protects whose who are executing the same. It is further most respectfully submitted that the complete ends of justice to the people of Manipur requires the Union of India and State Govt. to do away with the said declaration of the State as disturbed area.
(m) Because of the continuation of the Act, the state has obliterated the image of commitment to human rights raising the eyebrows of many developed countries. Such a law /act have no role to play in a democratic country and it should be more in the line with international standard. It is most respectfully submitted that if the authority is keen to withdraw the Act and does it accordingly, it will give a good image of the Govt. for being committed to the cause of right to life.
(n) Because the said Act has grossly infringed fundamental rights of right to life of the citizen of India enshrined in the Article 21 of Constitution of India as a person can be killed without any reason by the armed forces and it further infringed the Article 14 of the Constitution as the act is not applying to similarly situated area.
(o) Because the provision of the Act which give enormous, excessive and arbitrary power to the armed forces to use absolute power to the extent of killing a person which is further aggravated by statutory immunities to force personal has questioned the accountability of civilized society. It is most respectfully submitted that it is a matter of great public importance that the declaration of the State as disturbed area should be removed.
(p) Because the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgment of Naga people’s Movement of Human Rights (supra) directed in clause 21 para 74 “ a complaint containing an allegation about misuse or abuse of the power conferred under the Central Act shall be thoroughly inquired into and if on enquiry it is found that the allegations are correct, the victim should be suitable compensated and the necessary sanction for institution of prosecution and /or a suit or other proceedings should be granted under section 6 of the Central Act”. It is pertinent to mention here that despite many agitations, judicial commissions, complaints regarding many allegations about misuse or abuse of power, so far the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is not being followed properly allowing the culprits to Scot free.
(q) Because Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission has expressed its impression regarding the Act for becoming the symbol of oppression, an object of hate and instrument of discrimination and high handedness.
D. Recommendation to repeal the act by various Govt. of India constituted committees/commissions :-
(r) Because the Hon’ble Supreme Court, while upholding the constitutional validity of the Act, never pronounced upon the wisdom or the necessity of such an enactment. It is submitted that the act in its present form is too sketchy, too bald and quite inadequate in several particulars. It is further submitted that even though the constitutional validity of the act has been upheld but it does not imply that the Hon’ble Court has given the endorsement of the desirability or advisability of the act.
(s) Because the justice Jeevan Reddy committee recommended the repeal of the Act and expressed its firm view that it would be more appropriate to recommend insertion of appropriate provision in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (as amended in 2004) which is a cognate enactment as pointed out in the said report.
(t) Because the 2nd Administrative Reform Commission has already recommended to repeal the Act and it has expressed its view that in dealing with purely law and order aspects of insurgency and violence in the reason much better reliance needs to be placed to the local police than has been the case so far. It further stated that while deployment of the union may be required, there is a strong case for minimizing their use for operational purposes in a region which still continues to harbour a sense of alienation.
E. Commitments made by the Govt. and its functionaries either to repeal or amend the Act :-
(u) Because many dignitaries viz. Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of UPA, Union Home Minister of India etc. have given their commitment in various functions for the withdrawal of the act from the State of Manipur.
F. Various dignitaries of Govt. of India /state pleaded for removal :-
(v) Because that many important persons of the Government of India and State Government namely Governor of Meghalaya, Additional Director, IB, DG Assam Rifles, Chief Secretary Meghalaya etc. have already expressed their view against the use of AFSPA and recommended its withdrawal.
G. Non application of Act in other North-East States/naxalite infected areas :-
(w) Because the Act is not applied to various parts of North-East India. According to Reddy Commission report, the following are the scenario of AFSPA in North-East India :-
Assam – is in favour of the Act and is continuing since 1990.
Tripura – the Act is applied only in hill districts.
Nagaland – it has not recommended further extension of the Act.
Arunachal Pradesh – the Act is applied in only 2(two) eastern districts.
Meghalaya – it is in force only in 20(twenty) km. belt along the Assam border as enforced by the central Government since 27/11/1990.
Mizoram – the Act is not used.
Manipur – the Act is enforced uninterrupted for 33 years (since December, 1979) in the whole state except the Imphal Municipality area where it was withdrawn since August, 2004.
(x) Because the highly sensitive and violent Naxalite dominated areas of many states of India, where the naxalites are killing the security forces quite frequently on a day to day basis and where the civil administration is completely controlled by naxalites or is in chaos or defunct, the Armed Forces Special Power Act or similar Act have not been extended /enacted/applied on the ground that the people of that area are citizens of India and the naxalite problem is internal and political problems. It is most respectfully submitted that such step motherly actions of the concerned Authority being double standard and hypocrisy, it only makes the people of the North Eastern States feel discriminated and their sentiments have been hurt which affects the unity and integrity of India.
H. UN Recommendation for repeal of the Act :-
(y) Because in spite of India being described as the world’s largest democracy, having a constitution that guarantee a wide range of human rights and fundamental rights including the right to life, such an act at times denies and defies such rights to certain section of the society which is considered as a serious concern throughout the world. It is most respectfully submitted that the United Nations and many other Human Rights Organizations have started condemning the Act and requested the government of India to repeal the same.
I. Alienation of the people :-
(z) Because every enactment of an Act has an object & purpose of the same. And the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act 1958 is not serving its object & purpose as instead of controlling the insurgency problem by fortifying the trust and confidence in the unity & integrity of India as a nation, it gives the people of Manipur a feeling of alienation.
It is most respectfully submitted that after a long span of nearly 33 years of uninterrupted continuation of the Act in the State of Manipur, it cannot bring the peace except alienation & sense of discrimination rooting deeply more & more in the hearts and minds of the people of the area.
(z1) Because as the Armed Forces enjoying the impunity under the said Act, killed thousands of people as estimated in the last 3 decades in which majority are innocent citizen. So the act has done more damaging than curving the insurgency problem. It is most respectfully submitted that Contrary to the political belief that the Act can help in suppressing the separatist movement, it compels the people of Manipur to feel the sense of alienation more deeply.
(z2) Because the definition of disturbed area in the Act does not define/describe the circumstances under which the authority would be justify in seeking such a declaration. It is most respectfully submitted that there are acts which define the terms more concretely. In the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976, an area may be declared disturbed when “a State Government is satisfied that (i) there was, or (ii) there is, in any area within a State extensive disturbance of the Public peace and tranquility, by reason of differences or disputes between members of different religions, racial, language, or regional groups or castes or communities, it may… declare such area to be a disturbed area.” The lack of precision in the definition of a disturbed area under the AFSPA demonstrates that the government is not interested in putting safeguards on its application of the AFSPA.
(z3) Because the people of Manipur is not against the Armed forces and in fact majority of the people desire and wish that the army should remain to protect them against the foreign aggression but people are against the said Act which can be and is being misused quite often.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/grounds-for-repeal-of-afspa-as-submitted-to-supreme-court/