TASK AHEAD

The gross human rights violations in the North Eastern states of India have been fully documented by human rights NGOs in India. The Amnesty International observes that the AFSPA 1958 empowers the government to make 'de facto derogation from non derogable covenant rights' and it has urged upon the UNHRC to examine the factum of this derogation.

By criticizing the black law - AFSPA 1958 and the license to shoot and kill and citizen merely on suspicion, SHRDC observes, "These provisions give a broad licence to extra judicially execute" innocent and suspected persons under the disguise of maintaining law and order. It violates every norm of civilized society. The juridical conscience in the apex court and elsewhere legitimized extra-judicial massacres. This is deplorable in the sense that the world community opposes extrajudicial massacres.

The UN Human Rights Committee while showing deep concern at the state's continuing reliance on the AFSPA, the Public Safety Act and National Security Act, which are incompatible with Article 6, 7,9 and 14 of the Covenant recommends in 1997 that the insurgency problems which are essentially political in character be resolved with means that are compatible with the Covenant.

Reacting against clause 19 of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, the UNHRC recommends that "these restrictions be removed and that the National Human Rights Commission be authorized to investigate all allegations of violations by agents of the State." The government continues to uphold illegitimate derogation of the ICCPR, 1966.

The union government of India has already considered the insurgency as a political question and initiated unconditional political Dialoque with certain section of hill insurgents since August 1997; but it left out other effective and equally viable insurgent groups from the political Dialoque on the chronic political questions.

The very fact of holding political negotiation between the union government and the insurgent group on the initiative of the former has disproved the administrative misnomer in treating the political questions as ordinary law and order problem. The polemic is blatantly self contradictory.

The Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice J.S Verma heard seven petitions challenging the constitutionality of the impugned Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the first of which has been filed by the Manipur Human Rights Forum in October 1980. The bench upheld the law that interferes with the deep rooted political question. India's defence Minister, George Fernandez, however, calls for repeal of the black law of 1958 during his tenure. The continuance of this black law gives a fill up to the insurgency.

The PUDR report, May 1998 – 'An Illusion of Justice- Supreme CourtJudgement on the Armed Forces(Special Powers) Act ' had criticized the supreme court verdict on the AFSPA. It records, "The court refused to go into the actual working of the Act and deemd it irrelevant for purposes of deciding its constitutionality."[Report p. 3].

Justice Reddy report has found little comfort with the supreme court judgement on AFSPA. It has observed, "It is true that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has upheld its constitutional validity but that circumstance is not an endorsement of the desirability or advisability of the ACT ... The Court does not - it is not supposed to - pronounce upon the wisdom or necessity of such an enactment." [Report.p. 74].

It appears that the Supreme Court had acted more on legitimization of extrajudicial executions of genocidal nature than upholding the firmly established constitutional values on sanctitiy of human life and the international rule of law on human rights which have direct bearing with the Indian laws and obligations.

After prolonged mass movements in Manipur state of the country, in the wake of gang rape and extrajudicial execution of Miss. Thangjam Manorama by the 17th Assam Rifles on 11 July 2004, for the immediate repeal of the infamous AFSPA which had been mercilessly invoked for half a century in the entire North- East region, the prime minister admitted the inhumane nature of the black law, and constituted a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Justice B. P. Jeevan Reddy, who submitted the report in June 2005 to the prime minister for necessary action.

The Report (Jeevan Reddy committee report) made two major recommendations - firstly, for total repeal of the AFSPA, 1958 and secondly, for incorporation of some of the provisions of the black law in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 as amended in 2004.

It has observed," the Act, for whatever reason, has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and highhandedness." The main recommendation is _
"(a) the armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 should be repealed. Therefore, recommending the continuation of the present Act, with or without amendments, does not arise." (See page 74 of the report)

However, the report has encouraged backdoor- entry or colorable legislation of some of the nefarious provisions of the otherwise would-be- repealed statute in another existing statute in virtual departure of the committee's firm stand against inhumane provisions. The Report states:
"(b) The Committee is also of the firm view that it would be more Appropriate to recommend insertion of appropriate provisions in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967(as amended in the year 2004)- Which a cognate enactment is as pointed out in Chapter III Part II of this Report instead of suggesting a new piece of legislation." (See p.75) Reddy report suggests, among others, for incorporation in the ULAPA,2002 the following;

" (5)(b): In the course of undertaking operations mentioned in (a) above, any officer not below the rank of a non-commissioned officer, may, if it is necessary, in his judgement for an effective conduct of operations, use force or fire upon,after giving due warning, an individual or a group of individuals unlawfully carrying or in possession of or is reasonably suspected of being in unlawful possession of the articles mentioned in Section 15 of this Act."
[Report p.84]

The Report suggests :
" Section 40-E : The Armed Forces(Special Powe) Act,1958 is repealed Herewith." [ p.87]

The report has been silent on the preponderant issues relating the prevention of extrajudicial executions and termination of impunity of the offenders.The studied, possibly calculated silence would encourage the law-makers and law interpreters to take complete liberties with the life of citizens.

Immediately after receipt of the report, the army reacted strongly that they are in dire need for powers to commit extrajudicial executions and immunity for the crimes, they would like to commit.The state has encouraged the forces to identify nationalism with extrajudicial executions and absolute immunity. By the human rights standard, these arguments are untenable.

Before tabling the report to the parliament, in an apparent breach of the privilege of the house, the government submitted the report to the Indian army .The chief of the army General J.J. Singh asked for immunity of the soldiers from judicial scrutiny of alleged crimes committed by the members of the forces.

He has stated:" We cannot fight with both hands tied behind our backs. We need some sort of immunity for our soldiers from court cases."(Telegraph, Guwahati, 21 October, 2006). The world community stands as one man to terminate impunity of heinous criminals, and the rule of law evolved by human civilization does not deserve termination at the hands of powerful terminators or institutions.

New Delhi summit of civil society organizations held at the Press Club on 17 October,2006 in presence of large number of print media of the country, which meticulously and very systematically like the Goebbel's media blacked out the proceedings from professional reporting for extraneous reasons under the conventional cloak of press liberty or whatever they had in their mind, addressed by the national HR leadership including Mr Collin Gonzales, Professor Naorem Sanajaoba, Mr Ravi Nair of SAHRDOC, Amnesty International-India , Mr Loitongbam Babloo, among others, has urged upon the union government of India to forthwith scrap the black law-AFSPA,1958, and also to see subsequently that black norms recommending extrajudicial executions, torture and according impunity to extrajudicial executioners are not incorporated in any other existing law. Some of the speakers alerted that military rule should not be imposed all over the country subsequently after the repeal of the black law in the name of anti-discrimination. Several rallies followed suit in the NE region and New Delhi. UK Manipuris made a protest on 10th December 2006 at Trafalgar square for the repeal of the black law.

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