EMN
Dimapur, May 2
After a long hiatus of being unseen and unheard from the recent, various upheavals in Naga plethora, the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) has resurfaced but this time not to speak of local injustices but the black law, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
The organization has appealed to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to ‘take cognizance’ of the Indian government’s draconian act, and “prevail upon the Government of India to repeal” it to “make this world more humane”.
Secretary General of the NPMHR, Neingulo Krome, took the opportunity at the dais to address the 14th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which was held in the United Nations’ headquarters, in New York on April 30.
“…I take this opportunity to urge the permanent forum to take cognizance of this issue and prevail upon the Government of India to repeal this Act to make this world more humane, which is already under such a mess when we look at the level of violence and intolerance that is strangulating this global village,” the organization’s leader stated.
“By doing this, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will be doing a great favor to India in particular as it is caught in between choosing the popular demand for lifting this Act which will be going by the dictates of its own conscience and the resistance of a powerful few to remove the Act”.
While it is true that current concerns in the Naga plethora primarily revolves law and order, crime, and excesses from non-state actors, chronic unemployment, and corruption, the AFSPA – a standard topic of the organization–was the chief focus of the NPMHR’s statement to the UN platform.
There is “still something worse than war that is prevailing in this part of the world which the United Nations is aware of, but unable to do much to correct the situation,” Krome said in his statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said.
“When I say this, I am talking about the prevalence of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which was mentioned a couple of time last Friday by some delegates. This Act gives sweeping powers to the Security Forces to ‘shoot to kill’ any person and ‘arrest without warrant’ any person, with full impunity in the north eastern states of India and Jammu & Kashmir which is also now one of the most debated issues amongst various sections of people in India for several years now,” Krome asserted.
Against the backdrop of the imposition of this AFSPA in 1958 and the subsequent rampant and heinous violations of Human Rights committed on the Naga by Indian Security Forces with full impunity, he said, the NPMHR filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India in 1982, challenging the very constitutional validity of the black law. The Supreme Court took up the matter for hearing only after 15 years in July 1997.
“However, after hearing the petition and arguing over the appeal for the repealing of this Act for two full weeks, the Supreme Court of India upheld the Act, saying ‘the Act in itself is good’”. Krome said in lament.
The NPMHR leader said that the debate has now gone far beyond the confines of the courts and people from all walks of life “in India” are now debating the Act including in the print and electronic media.
“Some state governments have also openly sounded their serious concerns and have suggested the lifting of this draconian law. Even some of the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations have visited some of the AFSPA affected areas and strongly recommended for the repeal of this laws which has already been highlighted in this forum during the 11th session in May 2012,” the NPMHR leader said.
Owing to “many compelling reasons from every angle”, Krome told the session, the government of India too set up an inquiry committee called the Jeevan Reddy Committee in 2004 which submitted its report in 2005, strongly recommending repealing the Act.
The committee had stated that the Act “for whatever reason, has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness,” the organization pointed out. It added that a procedure “established by law” that claims to be fair, just and reasonable should not have become a symbol of oppression”.
