Agencies
NEW DELHI, APRIL 15
A large number of students, teachers and working professionals from different communities of North East India held a candle march in the North Campus of Delhi University on Tuesday evening, demanding repeal of AFSPA.
The candle march was organised by North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS).
Protesters shouted ‘Repeal AFSPA’, ‘Arrest the rapists.’ A small public meeting was also organised after the candle march at the Vishwa Vidyalaya metro station.
“We are protesting in solidarity with the three women raped by army personnel in Karbi Anglong district of Assam,” said Hem Chandra Brahma, a NEFIS member .
“This is not the first case of brutality. People across the communities from the north east have to unite against the draconian law of AFSPA,” he added.
“Even in Justice Verma Committee report there is an emerging concern that AFSPA leads to condition where democratic rights can be violated with impunity. Armed personnels have been using this impunity to sexually assault women,” said Maya John, Human Rights Activist.
Chinglen Khumukcham, Convenor NEFIS, raised the issue of AFSPA being extended to Arunachal Pradesh. He said that NEFIS will be raising this issue at national level.
Confirming this, Guwahati Police Commissioner Jyotirmoy Chakravarty said Nath was arrested from her quarter in the Assembly Hostel camp
AFSPA ‘not justified’, Arunachal govt asks Centre to reconsider
Agencies
GUWAHATI, APRIL 14
More than two weeks after the ministry of home affairs had extended application of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to all districts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam, the Congress government in the state on Tuesday evening requested the Centre to review and reconsider the decision.
A press release signed by state home minister Tanga Byaling said the state cabinet which met in Itanagar on Tuesday evening decided to make the request to the Centre taking into consideration that Arunachal Pradesh has been the most peaceful state in the North East Region with no history of home grown insurgency. “Extension of AFSPA to the border districts of the state in entirety is not justified at this stage,” the cabinet resolution said.
The MHA had by a notification on March 27 extended the AFPSA application to all the 12 districts of the state that share inter-state boundary with Assam. Earlier the AFPSA was in force in three eastern districts Tirap, Changlang and Longding (all three sharing international boundary with Myanmar) as also along a 20-km belt in districts bordering Assam.
The cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nabam Tuki also resolved to plead the Centre to maintain status-quo-ante as an alternative by revoking the notification of March 27, and to revert to the previous stand of extension to a 20-km wide belt in districts bordering Assam in addition to Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts.
Arunachal Pradesh home minister Tanga Byaling also denied that the state government was consulted by the MHA through a telephonic conversation regarding extension of AFSPA.
He also claimed that no intelligence information was shared with the state home department by the MHA in connection with the recent rebel attack on an army convoy in Tirap district recently in which three jawans were killed.
