State level AFSPA meet ahead of delhi do
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 13 2011: Ahead of a National conference on Armed forces' Special Powers Act 1958 scheduled at New Delhi on November 26 and 27, a state level seminar on the said issue was held at Manipur Press Club here today.

The State seminar organised by Manipur State unit Popular Front of India was attended by its president Mufti Arshad Hussain, NEC member of the Front Prof P Koya, former Manipur Human Rights Commission Member Ng Nongyai, Lilong Haoreibi College Lecturer, Hueiyen Lanpao daily editor M Shivdutta Luwang and Sharmila Kanba Lup convenor Janaki devi as the presidium members.

Speaking at the occasion, Mufti Arshad ridiculed callousness of both the Central and State Government to the demand of several civil society organisations for scrapping of the military Act inspite of the Constitution of India clearly enshrining political, economic or religious right of every citizen.

Rather than serving its purpose, AFSPA has become a tool for the security forces to arbitrarily detain or eliminate any individual on mere ground of suspicion, said the Front's State president while affirming that State representatives at the Ram Lila Maidan seminar will present a detailed account of atrocities committed by the security forces under the immunity granted by the Act.

Noting intensification in the campaign for removal of AFSPA from Manipur inspite of defiance by the Government, he also pledged the front's support and participation in every movement launched by the people against the draconian Act.

In his address, Prof P Koya asserted that in the universal context AFSPA has no place and the same spirit need to be sustained in Manipur, where several innocent lives have been lost due to the enforcement of the military Act.

Drawing the attention of the masses on the need for extending support to anti-AFSPA campaigner Irom Chanu Sharmila, he iterated that with various human rights activists joining the people's movement for removal of the Act, the Central Government too should initiate appropriate measures to ensure total scrapping of AFSPA without further delay.

While Janaki Devi and Ng Nongyai also voiced support to the unanimous call for removal of the Act, Huieyen Lanpao (Meitei Mayek) editor Shivdutta expressed that AFSPA contradicts the every principle of India being a democratic country.

Highlighting several cases of atrocities committed by the security forces in Manipur, he also observed that with the Union Home Minister himself recently opining that there should be revision on the imposition of AFSPA only substantiate movement of the people against the Act.

He, nevertheless, emphasised that the anti-AFSPA movement need to be sustained to ensure its scrapping at the earliest.

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