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As of 3 September 2010

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Towards Ending Armed Violence, Sustainable Peace & Reconciliation


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 Dr Thockchom Meinya, Member of Parliament

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

11.00 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

12.45 pm Statement by Lt General (retd) Dr BS Malik, President, Control Arms Foundation of


India

01.00pm Questions from the floor

01.10 pm Lunch Break

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 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. 30 pm “AFSPA: A Soldier’s Perspective” by Colonel (retd) Utkarsh Rathore, Business Head,


Silver Lake Technology

2. 45 pm “Human Rights Violations in Tripura under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act by Ms
Kavita Jamatia, President, All Twipra Indigenous & Minority Association (ATIMA)

3. 00 pm "Restoring governance and stability or limiting military’s impunity in counter-


insurgency operations: a dialogue of the deaf" by Mr Ravinder Pal Singh, Defence
Analyst

3. 15 pm “20 Years of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu & Kashmir” by Mr. Iftikar
Gilani, Editor, Kashmir Times

3.30 pm Questions from floor

Timing Concluding Session: Suggestions and way forward


3. 45 pm Chair: Mr.Wilfried D Souza, Alliance Convenor, Indian Social Action Forum
3. 55 pm Address by Shri Sharifuddin Shariq, Member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir

4. 05 pm Valedictory Address by Mr Siddharth Varadarajan, Chief of National Bureau, The


Hindu

4. 20 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

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