Agencies
IMPHAL, MAY 29
A day after the Tripura government lifted the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from the state, various rights bodies in strife-torn Manipur on Thursday renewed their demand for withdrawal of the draconian act from the state.
Over 3,000 children from Manipur on Thursday petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal AFSPA that gives unbridled powers to the Armed Forces. The children on Thursday sent a postcard to Modi urging him to commit to a ‘Post-2015 world order that is equal, just and secured for the people and the planet’.”Please repeal AFSPA and save democracy in India,” the postcard reads.
The postcard campaign is part of the ‘May Mobilization’ chapter of the global Action 2015 campaign, conducted by Human Rights Alert (HRA), United Voluntary Youth Council and Wada Na Todo Abhiyan across the country, said a statement by the Imphal-based HRA.
Civil activist from Manipur Irom Sharmila Chanu has been the face of the campaign against AFSPA. Her elder brother Irom Singhajit Singh, who is also a rights activist, criticized the Okram Ibobi Singh-government for its ‘lack of political will’ when it comes to AFSPA.
“If the state government shows political will, determination and guts, the act can be removed completely,” Singhajit told TOI. “The prolonged imposition of AFSPA in the name of suppressing insurgency is counterproductive as the number of underground groups has multiplied and cases of human rights violation have soared,” he said.
Meanwhile, a member of a visiting Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), which arrived here to monitor the progress of development work in the state, said the Centre is discussing the possibility of lifting AFSPA from the country. “There is a strong demand that the act be repealed in Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir. There is a possibility of lifting it from the entire country,” said PSC member D Raja on Thursday.
