Diphu, Nov.5 (EMN): A banned Karbi armed group by the name of People’s Democratic Council of Karbi-longri (PDCK) has called for a 24-hour shutdown in Karbi Anglong on November 7 next.
According to a press release from the outfit, the shutdown will begin 12 am on November 7 and end at 11.59 pm on the same day. The statement was appended by “Capt. David Mukrang, Chief of Army Staff, Red Army”.
The shutdown has been called “to resist violations of human rights” by security forces. “We vehemently condemn the atrocity committed by Indian occupation forces upon two arrested persons, namely Raju Engleng and Longsing Teron. They used electric shocks and beating as a method of torture to extract information, a confessions (sic) of persons and others. These practices are violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Convention,” the statement read.
The “occupation forces”, it stated, should recognize “International Humanitarian Law and the Law of Armed Conflict”, which protect persons as a target for military goal. No person should lose protection without legal evidence of Direct Participation in Hostility (DPH), it stated.
“As laid down in treaties such as the Geneva Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the ban on torture or any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is absolute, even in war-time, internal disturbances and natural or man-made catastrophes (torture degrades and corrupts the society that allows it).
“States are obliged to International Law. The act of torture and certain types of ill-treatments is a crime under International Law. They are war crime under all four Geneva Convention,” it further read.
The outfit stated that the ‘occupation forces’ should respect the prevailing international legal norms and recognize article 5 under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly Resolution 217 A) which states that 'no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'.
“To resist, violations of human rights, we call for total shutdown in Karbi Anglong for 24 hours, that is, from 12 am to 11:59 pm, on 7th Of November 2017. We call upon all subjugated people of this region to do the needful to make this shutdown success,” it announced.
