Armed forces, police forces and special powers in disturbed areas

Ravi Longjam *

Protest demonstration demanding repeal of AFSPA 1958 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi in December 2014 :: Pix - Seram Rojesh

Continuously for more than three decades, the Armed forces (mainly Assam Rifles) have been aiding and assisting to a point where the Manipur Police can enforce 'Law & Order' effectively. However, people are still questioning: why the Armed forces are still operating in Manipur for such a long time?

The hard reality to this question is that the Manipur Police (MP) is still not in a position to effectively counter the insurgent activities and stop undesirable forces.

Here, it is pertinent to mention that every year the security agencies including the Armed forces and state police along with the State Govt reviewed 'Law & Order' situations in their respective states. The government, not being satisfied with the deteriorating 'Law & Order' situations, has to consider the state of Manipur as 'disturbed areas' every year. In short, in 'disturbed areas', the Armed forces are there to help the police and civil power to restore normalcy and public order.

In Manipur, the Armed forces have been unfortunately identified with the AFSPA, human rights violations, rape, torture, fake encounter, suspicion, and so on. This is despite the fact that the Armed forces perform their duties in aid to civil power for the smooth functioning of the state administration.

Moreover, inspite of adopting people friendly strategy and ensuring minimal fallout in terms of alienation of local masses, the Armed forces are still struggling to win the heart and minds of the people of Manipur. On the one hand, continuous and heavy deployments of the elite forces like Army for internal security matters are discouraged.

It is because their prolong deployment for internal matters dilutes Army's status, aura, role and elite factor. Furthermore, it is one of the objectives of the Modernisation of Police Force (MPF) Scheme to reduce the dependence of the State governments on the Army and Central Para Military Forces for controlling the internal security and 'Law & Order' situations.

On the other hand, the state police still depend on Army's tactics and leadership skills to combat insurgent activities in Manipur effectively.

As long as the Manipur Police is not ready and not in a position to tackle the menace of insurgent activities in the state, the Armed forces must stay. Forthrightly speaking, it is also a matter of irony that the 'Law & Order' situations in Manipur has not shown any sign of improvement despite having more than three decades long counter insurgency operations. As a result, Manipur still carries the same old "disturbed areas" status.

Despite all their efforts and sacrifices, the Armed forces still fails to restore this 'disturbed areas' into normalcy and public order, thereby defeating their very purpose and role of ensuring peaceful life and dignity to the people.

No doubt, the Armed Forces personnel remain watchful and prepared for any sacrifice for betterment of the people. However, it is unfortunate that people still have no faith on the Armed forces' prolong association with the special powers like the AFSPA, 1958. The argument offered is that these special powers are an instrument to control and harass the liberty of the people and their rights.

To be very precise, the lack of fair balance between citizen's rights and security of the state has alienated the local masses. Consequently, instead of ensuring people's support, normalcy and public order, the prolong application of these special powers have alienated local masses from the security personnel and has widened the 'trust deficit'.

In the present Manipur scenario, people-friendly security forces are quite essential. Towards this objective, the Manipur Police must ensure fair balance between citizen's rights and public order. People's faith and confidence must be enhanced by protecting life & property; enforcing criminal laws & investigations; regulating traffic and other public safety duties.

Special Police units like Greyhounds (Andhra Pradesh), SWAT and SF-10 (Meghalaya), etc. must be raised to perform counter insurgency operations. Better 'Law & Order' situation in the State should be state police's prime duty and responsibility.

The Armed forces are still there to aid and assist the State police but prolong dependence of the State police on the Armed forces reflects their failure and incompetency. It is high time for the Manipur Police (MP) to act as a custodian of the democratic principles, constitutional rights, and the rule of law.

To conclude, the Armed forces (mainly Assam Rifles) have been aiding and helping the Manipur Police (MP) for the last three decades in the 'Low Intensity Conflict Operations'. However, the irony is that Manipur's status remains the same as 'disturbed areas'. This explicitly highlights the need for a new strategy that ensures a fair balance between citizen's liberty and security of the state.

The need of the hour is also for a police force that can enforce public order in the society without the aid of any special laws like the AFSPA, 1958. To this end, a sincere effort must be made to ensure normalcy and public order in Manipur, thereby changing the prolong status of Manipur as 'disturbed areas'.

(These views are personal and not related to any organization.