Guwahati, December 07: In support of the demand to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 from the North East and to chart out strategies towards working for the goal, a one-day convention of AFSPA, 1958 was held at Brahmaputra Hotel Ashok here today.

Two resolutions were adopted after the convention.

The resolutions include, rejecting any attempt to amend AFSPA and to firmly pursue the demand for its repeal and Apunba Lup and AASU to collaborate with other NE civil society organisations to give more thrust to the campaign against the Act.

The convention attended by many human rights activists, legal experts, intellectuals and student leaders was organised under the aegis of the Working Committee of the Apunba Lup, which has been spearheading the movement to repeal the Act from the North East and it was hosted by All Assam Students' Union (AASU).

The inaugural function of the convention was chaired by AASU president.

Former Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University Dr Dev Prasad Baruah, Advisor of North East Students' Organisation (NESO) Artex Simray, AASU advisor Dr Bhattacharya, AMSU advisor Sinam Prakash and co-ordinator of the Apunba Lup Ayekpam Langdon were among those who graced the dais.

Giving the key note address, AMSU advisor Sinam Prakash said the Apunba Lup, a conglomerate of various social organisations formed in the wake of public outcry against the custodial killing of Thangjam Manorama of Bamon Kampu, Imphal East by 17 Assam Rifles in July 2004, has been working tirelessly against the atrocities being committed by the security forces on innocent people.

In the light of the Jeevan Reddy Committee recommending the repeal of the Act, the Lup had also submitted various memorandums to the Centre for doing the needful in this regard.

However, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh kept aside the demand for withdrawal of the Act and insisted that some of its provisions would be amended only.

This only shows the attitude of the Centre toward the rights of the people living in North East region.

The convention is being organised with the main objective of working out strategies for scrapping the Act as well as to promote the integrity among the people living in the entire North East region, he said, while expressing gratitude to AASU and NESO for their support in organising the convention successfully.

The first technical session of the convention was moderated by representative of the Apunba Lup RK Ranendrajit.

Representative of Khasi Students' Union Saman Jaruah and representative of All Assam Lawyers' Association advocate Dijohn Mahajan and Advocate Chongtham Narendra presented papers as resource persons.

In there observation, the resource persons stressed on the need for involvement of elected representatives like MLA and MPs in the ongoing movement for withdrawal of Act as well as for taking up the issue for discussion in the Parliament.

In the 2nd and 3rd technical sessions, many experts and intellectuals also shared their thoughts on the issue and the public demand for withdrawal of the Act.

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