Dimapur, August 23 : The APO has appealed to the Government of India to review the imposition of DDA and AFSPA in Nagaland, saying the state today is peaceful unlike 60 years ago when Naga people had suffered and countless innocent lives lost on account of AFSPA.
It also said that the State government has been asking for the removal of the Disturbed Areas Act since 2005, but Government of India refused to listen.
APO president Dr. Vilhousa Seleyi and Secretary Info & Publicty Neisakholie Ziephrü in a statement said, “Nagaland today is not the Nagaland of 1958, Nagaland today is peaceful. It is not free of intimidation, extortion or factional killings, but it is not worthy to be deemed as a disturbed area under the Indian Constitution.”
The organization said, AFSPA was passed in 1958 when the Naga movement for independence had just taken off. “AFSPA is a bare law with just six sections. The most damning are those in the fourth and sixth sections; the former enables security forces to “fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death” where laws are being violated. The latter says no criminal prosecution will lie against any person who has taken action under this act.”
“India is popularly considered as a nation which gives due importance to the rights and liberties of its citizens. It has absorbed the ideals of democracy in its truest sense. However, it is difficult to imagine that in a country like ours, exists a law which makes a mockery of the basic human rights. A perusal of the provisions of AFSPA illuminates the extent of unchecked power in the hands of the armed forces. Not only Indian Law but International Law has also been violated. AFSPA violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the “UDHR”), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “ICCPR”), the Convention Against Torture, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra- legal and summary executions.”
Stating that accountability is a facet of the rule of law, APO said, AFSPA violates the basic understanding and principle of the law by the amount of unchecked power extended to the armed forces. “No one could be above the law; everyone must be equal before and under it. In light of the human rights violation, equality and justice, AFSPA is a law that has to go.”
Meanwhile, APO extended its support to the NSF and other Naga apex organizations against the extension of DDA and AFSPA in Nagaland.
APO urged the public and all organizations to take serious note of this matter and the ‘double standards’ shown by the GOI. It said, on one hand the GOI negotiates peace deals with the Naga people and on the other it classifies Nagaland as disturbed area and extends so much unchecked power in the hands of the armed forces.
“India is a strange country where in some parts the Government makes provision for offenders to be punished and imprisoned for the slaughter of cows and possession of beef and in other parts justifies and protects the killing of innocent life with AFSPA.”
