AFSPA 1958 is a luxury

Heigrujam Nabashyam *

To talk of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is like trotting out the same old cliché of violence, torture, injuries, rape and murder. It need not be elaborated much. It can simply be said that it is as much hated by the public or the common man-as Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India used to call them-as it is loved as much by the security forces.

It is an act which the security forces use to exploit very conveniently and without any remorse to shield their acts of atrocities against the common man or against suspected members of the Undergrounds or insurgents which are not justifiable under the law of the land or under any civilized law in the world.

It is an act which protects the perpetrators who more often than not cause serious physical injury, extreme mental harassment and even death to anyone including innocent men, women and children all in the name of fighting insurgency.

It is an act which exposes the common man to the remorseless atrocities of the security forces at any time, in any situation, at any place. Literally the public, the common man are the poor lambs to the slaughter under the Act-AFSPA, 1958.

However, it is reported that after the Justice Reddy Commission, which was given the task to examine the validity of AFSPA by the Centre-a contribution of Thangjam Chanu Manorama-has recommended drastic changes in the Act or scrapping of the Act altogether, the UPA Government has taken steps to suitably amend the Act.

It is also reported that the army have strongly advocated to retain the Act arguing that without AFSPA or such an act the army’s efforts would not be effective in counter-insurgency operations.

It was in the small hours in the winter of 1993-the first month of my marriage, I was sleeping with my wife in my room in my house which was separate from my parental house that I suddenly heard a sort of a commotion and came to realise that it was the army-the Jawans from the nearby camp of the Assam Rifles on Chinga, the hillock in Singjamei.

The jawans came shouting terrifying the poor souls in the locality in the death of the night. The previous evening when we were about to have supper we had heard sound of gunshots which came from around the Chinga, the hillock. Certainly, it could have been the work of some militants which eventually came to an end after one or two minutes.

Everything was silent then, nothing happened after that and we also had our food and settled for the night. The time when the Jawans came I just did not want to wake up, though in a minute or so I got my dress and opened the door. The moment the door was open some jawans barged into my house and before asking me any question, started hitting on my face. My wife got shocked and cried and she begged the Jawans for mercy.

To tell the truth I was not scared. I had quite a few friends who were retired army officers-Manipuri and non-Manipuri. They would tell me the psyche of the Jawans-if the Jawans are scared and excited they are dangerous and could kill you.

In my house there was only me and my wife. But there were many Jawans all around my house. Naturally there was no threat to the Jawans and therefore they were not dangerous at that point of time.

Frankly I wanted to skin the Bahaduri Jawan alive who had hit me as if I was a cattle. However, the sheer sadistic attitudes of those Bahaduri Jawans who were no better than the enemy were my only consideration for not venturing for any foolhardiness or else those Bahaduri Jawans would have made a ‘Tandoori’ out of me. That was a special gift the AFSPA had given me and I believe most of the Aam Aadmi-the common man-would have got such gifts from AFSPA, and probably much better than what I have got.

I wonder how the Top Brass of the army who strongly advocates for AFSPA would react if he were in my place?

Not long ago a free gift of AFSPA was also presented to an honourable Minister of the SPF Government. The Minister was detained by an army officer who was in T-shirt and shorts, on the road and probably taught the Minister some lessons on how to go on tour in front of the Jawans and the media who were covering the tour of the Minister.

And it seemed the Chief Minister of Manipur had also learnt a lesson or two from the army through his Minister, who had reported the matter to him on reaching Imphal without any problem, or else the Chief Minister who has the precedence over the defence Minister, should have enlightened the army on how to conduct themselves in public, how to behave with the common man and how to serve the State.

Nobody is denying the fact that the Jawans and the other security forces have to deal in difficult condition and environment where a militant can get slipped into the public area which is risky to the life of the Jawans. The concern for the security of the Jawans in such a difficult situation is genuine and nobody would deny that. But that doesn’t mean that the Jawans should be given blank death certificates, courtesy of AFSPA.

From whatever experience the public had since the activation of the Act-did the police and the paramilitary forces really require AFSPA to finish off terrorists as in the Batla House in Delhi ?

Did the army commandos require AFSPA to flush out the terrorists who had killed more than a hundred people in Bombay a year ago ?

Do the police and paramilitary forces require AFSPA to fight the Maoists in the mainland ?

At the epicentre in Manipur today, did the police commandos require AFSPA for firing, injuring and killing in the crowded Bazar of BT Road in Imphal on July 23, 2009 which was exposed by Tehelka.com ?

Are the army and the other security forces that weak that they would be rendered ineffective against the militants without AFSPA ?

These are the questions that ought to be answered by those who speak in favour of the dreaded AFSPA to themselves. And these are also the questions raised by Irom Chanu Sharmila who is following the path of the Mahatama Gandhi without a drop of water going through her mouth since November, 2000, pleading the Government to remove AFSPA from Manipur and from the law book. Why such a Savage Act is at all necessary in a civilized country like India ?

Anyone would agree that fighting insurgency would be a long haul. It just cannot be wished away by taking a tough military measure. And in regard to Manipur, insurgency is a leftover from history as pointed out earlier in this column and it could only be dealt with politically if a meaningful breakthrough is to be found-AFSPA or no AFSPA.