PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Towards Democratic Peace, Reconciliation and Ending Armed Violence

Assessing the Call to Repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958
Date: Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Venue: Conference Room I, India International Centre
Time: 9 am to 5 pm

Organised by
Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network,
Control Arms Foundation of India in collaboration with
People’s Union for Civil Liberty, Indian Social Action Forum and KRITI

Supported by
Heinrich Boell Foundation
Timing Programme Schedule

9: 00 am Registration

Timing Inaugural Session I

9.30 am Chair: Lt Gen (retd.) Dr B S Malik, President, Control Arms Foundation of India
9. 45 am Welcome & Introduction by Ms Binalakshmi Nepram, Founder, Manipur Women
Gun Survivor Network; Secretary-General, Control Arms Foundation of India

9.55 am Lighting of a lamp by Ima Sinam Chandragini from Malom Village, Manipur who
lost two sons in Malom Massacre of November 2000

10.15 am Address by Dr Michael Koeberlein, Director, Heinrich Boell Foundation

10.30 am Chief Guest Address by Shri Soli Sorabjee, Former Attorney General of India

10.45 am Address by Mr Yambem Laba, Former Member Manipur Human Rights

Commission

11.00 am Address by Lt General (retd) V.R. Raghavan, Director, Delhi Policy Group (DPG)
President, Centre for Security Analysis (tbc)

11.15 am Tea Break

Timing Session II: Background and Assessing the Impact of 52 years of Armed Forces
11.30 am (Special Powers) Act 1958 Chair: Shri EN Rammohan, Former Director General of
the Border Security Force
11.45 am “Origins of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 and Impunity of Human Rights
Violation under AFSPA” by Ms. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human
Rights Watch

12.00 am “AFSPA: Is the review necessary?” by Dr. N Manoharan, Senior Research Fellow,
Centre for Land Warfare Studies

12.15 am “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act contravenes both Indian and International law
standards” by Ms Anjuman Ara Begum, Research Scholar, Guwahati University

12.30 pm ICRC’s Statement by Mr. Christopher Harland, Legal Advisor, ICRC Regional
Delegation for South Asia
 Statement by Lt General (retd) Dr BS Malik
12.45 pm
Questions from the floor
01.00pm
Lunch Break
01.10 pm

Timing Session III – AFSPA : What is the way out ? A Holy Book or National Security
2. 00pm Tyranny? Chair: Mr Pushkar Raj, General Secretary, People’s Union for Civil
Liberties

2. 15 pm “AFSPA: A Soldier‟s Perspective” by Colonel Utkarsh Rathore (tbc)

2. 30 pm Testimony: 10 Years of Fasting by Irom Sharmila, killing of Thangjam Manorama and

Impact of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 on Women of Manipur ” by Mrs
Lourembam Nganbi, President, Apunba Nupi Lup (ANUL), Vice President Apunba
Manipur Kanba Ima Lup (AMKIL)

2. 45 pm Presentation by Mr Ravinder Pal Singh, Defence Analyst

3. 00 pm “20 Years of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu & Kashmir” by Mr. Iftikar
Gilani, Editor, Kashmir Times

3.15 pm Questions from floor

Timing Concluding Session: Suggestions and way forward

3. 30 pm Chair: Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Director, Human Rights Law Network (tbc)
3. 45 pm Address by Shri Sharifuddin Shariq, Member of Parliament from Jammu and
Kashmir

4. 00 pm Address by Shri Dr. Thokchom Meinya, Member of Parliament from Manipur

(tbc)

4. 15 pm Valedictory Address by Mr Siddharth Varadarajan, Chief of National Bureau, The

Hindu

4. 30 pm Passing of New Delhi Resolution on Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

4.50 pm Thank you note by Ms. Mary Khuvung, Programme Coordinator, Control Arms
Foundation of India

5.00 pm Tea

For any questions and participation, please contact the following

Ms Binalakshmi Nepram & Ms Mary Khuvung
Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network & Control Arms Foundation of India
B 5 / 146, First Floor, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
Email: Binalakshmi@gmail.com, marycafi@gmail.com
Phone: +91-11-46018541 Mobile: 98682333734, 9891513551
 CONCEPT NOTE

Armed Forces Special Powers Act

Northeast India Women Initiatives for Peace

A framework for action for democracy, human rights, economic justice and
conflict prevention in India‟s Northeast region

Date: Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Venue: Conference Room 1, India International Centre
40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi - 110 003
Time: 9 am to 5 pm

The Armed Forces Special Powers Bill was passed by both the Houses of Parliament and it
received the assent of the President on 11th September, 1958. It came on the Statute Book as
„The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

Enacted as a short-term measure to allow deployment of the army against an armed separatist
movement in India‟s northeastern Naga Hills, the AFSPA has been invoked for five decades. It
has since been used throughout the northeast, particularly in Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and
Manipur. A variant of the law was also used in Punjab during a separatist movement in the
1980s and 90s, and has been in force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990. Indian officials have
long sought to justify use of the law by citing the need for the armed forces to have extraordinary
powers to combat armed insurgents. The abuses facilitated by the AFSPA, especially
extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and disappearances, have fed public anger and
disillusionment with the Indian state. This has permitted militant groups to flourish in the
northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. The AFSPA has not only led to human rights violations, but
it has allowed members of the armed forces to perpetrate abuses with impunity. They have been
shielded by clauses in the AFSPA that prohibit prosecutions from being initiated without
permission from the central government. Such permission is rarely granted.

Indians have long protested against the AFSPA. The Supreme Court has issued guidelines to
prevent human rights violations, but these are routinely ignored. Since 2000, Irom Sharmila, an
activist in Manipur, has been on hunger strike demanding repeal of the act. The government has
responded by keeping her in judicial custody, force-fed through a nasal tube, and has ignored
numerous appeals for repeal from activists in Jammu and Kashmir. Following widespread
protests after the 2004 murder in custody of an alleged militant called Manorama Devi in
Manipur, the Indian government set up a five-member committee to review the AFSPA. The
review committee submitted its report on June 6, 2005, recommending repeal of the act. In April
2007, a working group on Jammu and Kashmir appointed by the prime minister also
recommended that the act be revoked. However, the cabinet has not acted on these
recommendations because of opposition from the armed forces.

There has long been international criticism of the AFSPA. Over 10 years ago, in 1997, the United
Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concern over the “climate of impunity” provided by
the act. Since then, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions (2006), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2007)
and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2007) have all called for an end
to the AFSPA.

We believe that women from the northeast can play a pivotal role in bringing about peace in the
region with collective voices from all sections of the society if we sincerely work together. The
North East Women Initiative for Peace (NEWIFP) is a project proposed by Control Arms
Foundation of India, New Delhi are now directly engaging into debates and dialogue with the
Armed Forces on the highly controversial and sensitive topic on the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA).
This proposed conference will have guests and resource persons ranging from women‟s
organization, civil society organisations, the armed forces and men and women from the north
east as well as other parts of India working on peace and conflict issues. Each guest will have
an inspiring story to share or incidents that we can relate to and also to suggest new methods
and innovative ideas for capacity building to work towards greater peace and stability in the
Northeast.

Through NEWIFP, CAFI will be organizing similar seminars and workshops in the northeast so
that we can make greater impact and share ideas and visions to work towards peace building.
We believe that the state and non state armed groups alone cannot be put solely responsible to
bring about peace, but women‟s organizations and sensitive and committed men and women can
play a vital role to bring the change that we wish to see. Please join in our efforts.

For more information, please contact:

Ms Binalakshmi Nepram
Founder, Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network
C/o Control Arms Foundation of India
B 5 / 146, First Floor, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
Phone: +91-11-46018541 Fax: +91-11-26166234 Mobile: 9868233373
Email: binalakshmi@gmail.com Website: cafi-online.org