PROCEEDINGS

Towards Ending Armed Violence, Sustainable Peace & Reconciliation

Assessing the Call to Repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958
Held on 8 September 2010 at India International Centre, New Delhi

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
____________________________________________________

On 8th September, 2010, Control Arms Foundation of India, Manipur Women Gun Survivor Network in
association with People‟s Union for Civil Liberty, Indian Social Action Forum and KRITI with support of
Henreich Boel Foundation conducted a seminar on the Armed Forces Special Powes Act under the
Northeast India Women Intiative for Peace Project. It was organized to assess the call to repeal the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act of 1958.

The conference was held in India International Centre and was attended by about 80 personalities from
various organizations, armed forces personnel, academicians, activists, Ministry of Home Affairs, and
journalists from mainstream media, all of whom share an interest in bringing about changes or
amendment to the Act.

Objective of the conference:

To discuss the possibilities of repealing the act

To look at measures to make amendments if total repealing is not possible
To understand and apply constitutional and internationally known United Nations guidelines
and other International humanitarian Laws and International Human Rights Laws
To examine various recommendations like the Jeevan Committee reports on the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act and various constitutional challenges that has been put forth by other Human
Rights Organizations like the Naga People‟s Movement for Human Righst and the National
Commission for Human Rights, etc
To draw a blue print for a better humane law or enactment of AFSPA in providing justice and
political rights in a society shattered by years of conflict in the North East and Jammu and
Kashmir where AFSPA is currently applied
Any other relevant issue

List of Resource Persons:

1. Mrs. Lourembam Nganbi

President Apunba Nupi Lup (ANUL), Vice-President Apunba Manipur Kanba Ima Lup
(AMKIL) and Secretary of External Affairs of United Committee of Manipur

2. Mr Sanjoy Hazarika, Managing Trustee, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research
and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Policy Research.

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 3. Ima Sinam Chandragini
Hails from Malom Village in Manipur. She is a survivor who lost two sons in the Malom
Massacre of November 2000. She is currently member of Manipur Women Gun Survivor
Network

4. Shri Dr. Thokchom Meinya,

Hon„ble Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Manipur

5. Mr E N Rammohan
Former Director General of the Border Security Force. He recently investigated the killing of
76 securitymen by Naxalites in Dantewada.

6. Mr Siddharth Varadarajan
Chief of National Bureau, The Hindu.

7. Mr. S. Iftikhar Gilani

New Delhi Bureau Chief, Kashmir Times

8. Dr Michael Koeberlein
Director, Heinrich Boell Foundation

9. Dr N. Manoharan
Senior Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies

10. Lt General (retd) Dr BS Malik

President, Control Arms Foundation of India

11. Ms. Meenakshi Ganguly

South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch

12. Ms. Anjuman Ara Begum

Anjuman Ara Begum is currently pursuing her Ph.D in Department of Law, Gauhati
University, Assam, India.

13. Mr Yambem Laba

Former Member, Manipur Human Rights Commission

14. Mr Raj Pushkar

Mr Pushkar Raj is the National General Secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties„
(PUCL)

15. Mr Ravinder Pal Singh

Defence Analyst

16. Mr Wilfred Dcosta

General Secretary, INSAF

17. Ms Binalakshmi Nepram

Secretary General Control Arms Foundation of India and Founder, Manipur Women Gun
Survivor Network

Detailed Reporting from the Conference

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Inaugural Session 1

The inaugural session was chaired by Lt General (retd) Dr B S Malik, President of Control Arms
Foundation of India. The session started by lighting of a lamp by Ima Chandragini. Ima Chandragini
who lost two of her sons in the Malom massacre of 2000 was very emotional as Ms Binalakhsmi explained
how one of her sons, who won the National Bravery Award at the age of 5 years from the then Prime
Minister of India, Mr Rajiv Gandhi and the President of India was shot to dead by Assam Rifles
personnel.

The first session of the seminar with welcome note from General B S Malik. He expressed a warm
welcome as well as a hope for solidarity amongst all those who were present at the seminar. He stated
that it was an important day for all important groups were brought together to access the AFSPA 1958.
He also went on to state that Ambassador from Myanmar, Bangladesh were present, talking of the vision
2020 in the conference. This document most of the topics were discussed except AFSPA. BIMSTEC 2008.
If the economic condition is improved it will be prosperous part of India. But today we are discussing
security of the region. This will give prosperity to the region. The problem of this area will continue if the
security is not taken into consideration CAFI is saying that we need to focus on arms given to civilians
through licenses. CAFI seeking support for the call to repeal AFSPA. There is a conflicting news report on
the repeal of AFSPA. We will discuss what the right course of action today is. A mother doesn‟t want to
understand the debates she wants to know why her child has been killed. Authority of the government is
not primarily the authority of the law, nor the authority of force, but the authority of the community
itself. Laws are obeyed because the community accepts them as corresponding on the whole to its concept
of justice. The power of a government cannot be a pure political artifact. CAFI met the Home Secretary
and informed about the arm proliferation. We are reaching out wherever we can

A following introduction to the conference was provided by Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram, the founder of
the Manipur Women Gun-Survivor Network and the Secretary-General of the Control Arms Foundation
of India. Ms. Nepram expressed her gratitude for all those who had arrived and explained her personal
motivations behind her work and her determination to succeed in repealing the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act Ms Binalakshmi Nepram :” I hope we will be able to have an important discussion today.
CAFI was founded in 2004. The AFSPA debate started with an idea when I asked my father, why
Manipur and other states are burning. The day I was born there was curfew. Manipur has the highest
killing in the country. My father said he has no answer. We have to find where the answer lies. Last year
we came to IIC and asked for support to organizize north east women initiative for peace. We had no
money. IIC opened it door for the whole day deliberation. We had 60 women. But the deliberations were
helpful. It is woman who pick up the pieces while men fight the war. We had the second meeting on 7 th
August 2010 in Guwahati. We have several organisations who helped us. The issue we have a lot to
deliberate today.”

She said she met Ima Chandragini three year back and that we have forgotten thousand of women from
Manipur who have suffered since long. And for last 5 decades. Initially Ima refused to talk to her as
neither the government nor any human rights activists came to meet them. Two of her sons were killed in
the Malom massacre. She is our chief guest. In Malom, a boy who got bravery award was gunned down
by the Assam Rifles in Malom massacre.

Dr Michael Koeberlein , Director of Henreich Boell Foundation stated that it is a great honour to be at
the conference. On behalf of HBF he congratulated CAFI for the hard work. He said it‟s was a
commitment to the gender democracy. There is a common understanding between CAFI and HBF to
work together for non-violence resolution of conflict. Since independence, India has AFSPA as a
challenge. It was passed for so the called disturbed areas, then applied in Jammu and Kashmir. India is a
democratic and ruled by law. At the same time it shows deficient that shows decency. It contravenes
International Human Rights Laws. AFSPA is rarely discussed among the policy makers and government
arenas. This event gives all to speak, share grievances and controversial disputed topics. Civil society has
reported torture, killing under AFSPA. The AFSPA requires an open discussion. Different perspectives
are brought together in this conference. I hope the goals of this conference will be realized.

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General B S Malik then said We are here today to discuss. This is very appropriate that people from all
over India discuss the topic at the heart of the capital.

The inaugural address was presented by Mr Yambem Laba:

He began by thanking Bina. He said it was ironic to think that AFSPA which came back on 15 th August,
1942 when linthiggow signed to control the situation in India. After 1857, the British crown affairs from
East India Company. India became a colony in 1857. It took 84 years for British misrule to pass AFSPA
ordinance to combat quite Indian movement. It took only 8 years for the independent India to resort to
such draconian rule again. The ordinance was applicable to Assam and Manipur. The havaldars were
given wide discretionary power unlike the British version. It came into 1958. More information has been
given in the background paper. A Member of Parliament at that time talked against the act. The
discussion lasted 3 hours in Lok Sabha and 4 hours in Rajya Sabha. In 1972 the act was amended to keep
it in force all over the northeastern states. The power to declare disturbed area can be done by centre.
Now centre can declare any areas in North East as disturbed area which having asking for the ratification
for the state government. Suffering increased over time. The challenges of this Act first came from Indrajit
Baruah. In 1980 he filed a petition challenging the constitutional validity. In 1984 it transferred to the
Delhi High Court and subsequently to the Supreme Court. The second petition was filed by three of us,
Mr Loken , an advocate, and myself and we formed the human rights forum Manipur on December 10,
1979. About 50 people joined us. I called for support from the people. We went to Manipur for peoples
support. There was a people resistance. Repression creates resistance. We were revolutionist. Today
human rights activists are holy cow. Sept 9, 1980 declared the entire state of Manipur as disturbed area.
The PLA movement started then. Morarjee Desai said we just came out of the insurgency we don‟t want
another emergency. So AFSPA was revoked. It was intended only for three month. On 10 December 1980,
we moved to Supreme Court. Our lawyer was Mr Altaf. We could not pay money to him. The Advocate
refused on the ground that it a political case. The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights filed in
November 1982. That became a history. Now four cases were filed. It took 17 long years to act on these
petitions. Koteshwar Singh, a BA honours student here he became a lawyer and now he is a Advocate
General in Manipur. It took time for me to brief the NHRC about AFSPA. And they filed petition. We lost
on moral ground. The Supreme Court talked about the operative part of the Act because of the Supreme
Court ruling in Manipur. On March 11 1999, Manipur state cabinet discussed for the first time that there
is a ruling like this. The first shock came in 2004. In front of the Kangla Gate and the second largest army
became the rapist army in the country. Arrest and killing of Manoram Devi by Assam Rifle triggered this
protest. The Prime Minister came and took Assam Rilfe out of Kangla and said the act will be made more
humane. In terms of the control of the arms movement there, in 1958, only the Nagas or few groups were
there as militants. In 2010, the number of militant groups has spread all over the North East. Every ethnic
group has their own group. Any demand like inclusion in the schedule caste list, radio programme in
their language etc. I was a journalist. I became a member on December 10, 1998 as member of Manipur
Human Rights Commission. As a member I am not supposed to socialize in a gathering. My village was
raided. The major said I do not recognize the chief minister of Manipur. This was said by a major in
Manipur. The Brigadier reported that I was a sympathizer of the underground.

The Army threatened a lawyer. The third case was Captain Pillai who led 50 soldiers of Indian army to
close down the entire powers system in Manipur. It was because the day before there was no power
supply to the camp. He said, I am armed by the AFSPA. I don‟t recognize the Governor of Manipur

It‟s the government who should repeal and amend this act now. Pakistan nor China does not have such
an act over its rebellion. So it is time that government either repeal or amend the Act now. Now Omar
Abdullah is with this movement.

General B S Malik stated that It was important that we don‟t take the names of the person who are not
able to defend themselves here in this meeting.

The Chief Guest address was made by Dr Thockcham Meinya, Member of Parliament, Manipur. He
started by stating that he was sad that there is bad situation in his home town and all over the country.
The draconian act, as you are familiar with the act. I am in the parliament for last 6 years and you must

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know my stand on the act. We have at the moment very interesting scenario before the Government of
India to deal with this act. After long period of time its application became redundant and it was to check
the insurgency but now it has been going everywhere and insurgency groups has their own groups now
and has crossed 40 groups now. One fact is that a very important administrative reform commission
recommended for the repeal of the act and also with a rider in the recommendation. Sharmila Devi‟s case,
Prime Minister came to Manipur and dealt with the situation. He assured that the act will be given a
humane. The committee formed the Jeevan Reddy Commission. Now these files are with the Government
of India. Manipur is boiling. Anything can happen anytime. From my side, I can say the things are now
only worsening. I don‟t know whether you know the latest judgment by the Gauhati High Court upheld
the constitution of the enquiry commission on Manorma‟s case. I hope this will fall. This is a national act
but the application till date is regional. The Government of Manipur declared that Imphal Municipal
Area is not disturbed. The same thing is going to happen in Jammu and Kashmir if the state government
does this. The centre can declare it as disturbed. This is a legacy of the 1942 british law.

We have to give stress on education. Inspite of the legislation, there are certain things beyond our control.
When POTA was repealed we thought this will be repealed too but it didn‟t happen. I belong to Indian
congress. Now we are putting our heads together. Whatever has happened so far should not be continue
under this act. We are serious now and we are working together to stop the suffering of the people. We
would like to have a copy of the recommendation so that along with other MPs we will see what we can
do on our part. At this moment we have to take things seriously. Thank you.

General B S Malik said the we will share the recommendation with you all.

Mr Sanjoy Hazarika a noted journalist, scholar and writer, said there was very little that could be said
anew about AFSPA. The stories are unending and grim. The situation in Kashmir is an enduring
reminder of the absolute failure of the state to values the lives of the people. A senior police official who
served in Nagaland told me recently that “My feeling is that AFSPA has not been used but misused and
abused.” He said there were safeguards for the security forces but “what are the safeguards for the
common people.” Mr. Hazarika referred to the Kohima incident where Rashtriya Rifles personnel
mistook a tire burst for an ambush and opened fire, killing seven persons.

Even senior officer say that the Army should not be used against the movements in the country. It should
be used for its main task or external enemies. One of the impacts of the conflict is the post-trauma stress
syndrome which is a major problem among civilians and also among the security forces.

There is another violence that cannot be overlooked and that is the violence by the non-state actors. This
point needs to be address as well. I don‟t want to divert from the theme but this also needs to be
discussed.

AFSPA is a law. It‟s been around for 52 years; the test of a law is that whether it has successfully reduced
a specific challenge. In this case the situation has worsened. There is a cabinet note drafted by the Home
ministry to amend the act. It hasn‟t come before the cabinet because there is resistance from the army.
This raises a clear political issue: Should there be an army veto over civilian authority? If we don‟t
address this issue we are going into a very dangerous area. But there must be a legal mechanism that
enables the Defence Ministry to deploy its forces in conflict area. The Jeevan Reddy Committee did not
propose to amend the act, it proposed its repeal. We recommended the amendment of the Prevention of
the Unlawful activities Act to deal with the situation. We also suggested grievances cells to meet the long
standing anguish of the people whose dear ones were taken away, disappeared or killed. Peole are not
prepared to accept that the army can pick up innocent civilians and make them disappear. We need to
look into this aspect.

Mr. Hazarika said he had a suggestion for Dr Meinya and that the North East MPs Forum should take
active role in the issue. However, no one should be above the law, the law should not be discriminatory.

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General B S Malik then went on to say that this is a disturbed area. If the government doesn‟t declare an
area disturbed then armed forces cannot go there. The civil authority must admit that they cannot handle
the situation anymore. It is the similar power as the police have. Because unless such a power if given, an
armed forces cannot act is an area.

Ms Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch began by saying that the question of
how terrible the act is has been debated for a long time and there was broad consensus about it now.
Civil society groups in Kashmir, Manipur and other places in the northeast have long campaigned on this
issue, and had succeeded in bringing it to national attention. AFSPA is now discussed on national
television channels. The Home Ministry has acknowledged that some aspects of the act have problems.

However, the government is yet to act on this issue. That is because there are two groups that now
oppose this. Nationalist groups believe that to repeal this law will encourage anti national elements. This
is easy to answer. There are political issues that lie at the heart of these debates, and the Army has no role
in those. However, human rights abuses that occur because of the deployment of the army under AFSPA
have led to further anger, and actually pushed people to opt for violence. Are you going to perpetuate a
system where more people are choosing militancy, purely to avenge human rights violations because the
perpetrators are not punished?

The other group that opposes repeal are those that speak for the Army. They suggest that repealing the
law will hurt troop morale. Unfortunately this is not a correct assessment. Most soldiers are not human
rights violators. If there was a system of accountability, they would probably feel better empowered to do
their job. But when a colleague commits crimes to seek promotions or recognition, and the law prevents
that person from being prosecuted, that is much more likely to affect troop morale. And it will create a
force that then chooses the path of human rights violations.
.

AFSPA has become an emotional issue now. People hate the law. Public opinion has to be respected.
People don‟t believe in AFSPA any more. This law could not protect the people and hence it should be
repealed.

Session II Background and Assessing the Impact of 52 years of

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958

Session II was chaired by Mr E N Rammohan, former Director General of Border Security Force.
While making his presentation on „AFSPA: Is the Review Necessary?‟ Dr N. Manoharan, Senior Research
Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, said that there are two contrasting opinions on AFSPA. At one
end of the spectrum, it is said that the Act is an „unnecessary evil‟. It gives a virtual power to kill people.
It also violates the constitutional and international norms. On the other hand, it is held as „necessary
good‟. Those who take this line argue that it is impossible for the Army to operate without a legal cover.
Sufficient powers and autonomy of operation is required to fight the „invisible‟ enemy who is now more
sophisticated, amorphous, networked and more lethal. Without immunity, the security personnel will
face unnecessary litigations. The local judiciary cannot deliver proper justice on these cases because of
fear of armed militants. „Disturbed Area‟ is declared by the government and not by the Army. The Army
in fact is not interested in involving itself in counter-insurgency. The Army also has excellent track record
in handling human rights violations internally. Most importantly, Indian Army fights with a doctrine of
„iron fist with a velvet glove‟ and uses no heavy fire like artillery or air force as in the case of Afghanistan
and Iraq. Moreover, all counter-insurgency operations of the Army are guided by three internal
documents: 10 commandments issued by the COAS in 1993, supplementary commandments issued in
2005 and a detailed „Dos and Don‟ts on AFSPA‟. These documents are strictly abided by while
implementing the AFSPA.

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Nevertheless, AFSPA requires review. Those provisions considered controversial in Section 4 should be
amended in the light of past experiences. Ambiguities in section 3, especially on how to define a
„disturbed area‟ and section 5 on the time period for handing over a person to the nearest police station
should be spelled out more clearly. Even Supreme Court judgment does not throw much light on it.
Ambiguity leads to wide discretionary powers. Value additions could be made to the Act by
incorporating „sunset‟ clauses and periodic reviews, say every six months or one year. The solution lies in
addressing larger socio-political and economic issues. Mere repealing of the Act will not solve the issue.
At the macro level, human security component has to be built in every special law keeping in mind that
India is a democratic country. All such laws should be passed only after careful scrutiny and intense
debate. Any security law should not be allowed to widen psychological gap between the state and its
subjects. At the ground level, to bring down human rights violations, consultative bodies between the
Army and civil society groups can be created to discuss the issues and bring out more transparency in the
implementation of AFSPA.

Ms Anjuman Ara, Research Scholar, Guwahati University spoke on the topic, “AFSPA, Right to Life and
Human Rights Norms”.

India has signed or ratified a number of international human rights treaties and has voluntarily accepted
the legal obligation to abide itself by the universally accepted human rights standards. International
Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is one among those treaties. India has not signed the
additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions. Nonetheless, Article 3, common to the four Geneva
Conventions of 1949 is applicable in the context of armed conflict prevalent in North East India.

In India, Capital punishment is included as a penalty in a number of Acts, such as the Indian Penal Code
and penalty provisions of national security legislation. Under the Indian Penal code, eleven offences may
be punished by death. These offences are (1) abetting any death eligible offences, waging war against the
government, abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces, fabricating false evidence with a intent to
secure conviction of another person for a capital offense provided that such a conviction occurs , abetting
the suicide of a child or an insane person etc.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Arbitrary and Summary Execution, Philip Alston in his
report to the Commission on Human Rights dated March 27, 2006 expressed concern over AFSPA on the
ground that it violates non-derogable provisions of international human rights law as AFSPA empowers
security forces not only to arrest and enter property without warrant but also gives them power to shoot
to kill in circumstances where members of the security forces are not necessarily at imminent risk. This
conclusion followed from section 4 (a), (c) and (d) of the AFSPA.

Various judgments have been pronounced by the Supreme Court of India and Gauhati High Court on the
allegations of violation of right to life under AFSPA. The Courts found armed forces acting under AFSPA
guilty of violation of human rights in particularly right to life and ordered compensation and also
ordered prosecution for the perpetrators in several cases. Several inquiry commissions appointed under
Inquiry Commissions Act 1952 found in their investigation that armed forces violating the inalienable
right to life.

AFSPA violates core inalienable right called right to life and hence the Act should be repealed.

Dr. Yaringan, Professor, Delhi University began by saying that lack of will to solve the issue AFSPA is
nothing but an excuse. AFSPA is to be in a disturbed area. Is northeast a disturbed area? How long will
continue with this declaration. Is AFSPA is a solution, who declares what is „disturbed area‟? When the
situation is out of control, government declare it as disturbed area. There is a complete lack of will from
the government of India. Why the elected representative are doing like this.

The resources of Manipur and the problem is grapping this resources. There are nexus between politician
and the insurgents. The army, politician and insurgents are creating problem in Manipur. We need to see

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the situation in Manipur. It is becoming worse and worse, if steps are not taken, Manipur will be
completely in chaos in next 10 days. Manipuri intellectuals are migrating from Manipur. There is no way
if the government doesn‟t take serious note f it.

Mr E N Rammohan, said the Armed forces are required in some case as some speakers pointed out. In
the rural areas, police stations are far. Sometime you have to walk two to three kilometers to meet a
police. Infrastructure is helping the insurgent. Idea giving power to army is that police are less in number
and they cannot go for anti insurgency operations. I don‟t think the act is draconian. The person working
under it is draconian. Genenal Nayar ordered anyone arrested as suspected terrorist to be brought in
Kangla fort within 24 hours. A police unit was set inside Kangla and interrogation took place. He made
sure that no one is tortured. He later became governor of Manipur and he was respected though he
resigned later. The road of Impahl and Churachandpur is militant zone. I gave a direction that if someone
commits violation I will make sure that they are prosecuted. This warning was enough. AFSPA is not
wrong. It is the leadership is wrong. Series of massacre took place in Manipur. Responsible Leadership is
required to ensure that AFSPA is not abused or misused.

General B S Malik stated that there is not a single case where advocates dealt with cases against militant
and produced evidences. AFSPA is not applied in Maoist dominated area. Why? It is not fight against
among the politicians. In 1485, it was found 97% were wrong. 91% were punished. How many
organization are there that has punished the other department. The biggest threat in India was Kargil.
The emergency power was not invoked because there will be difficulty. Indian army fought and they
saved the nation without invoking the law like AFSPA. Lets give a thought that something needs to be
done.

Mr Yambem Laba also commented that in 1999, Md Tayab Ali disappearance. Onus lie on the army to
prove that Tayab Ali was not in their custody. The High court ordered CBI enquiry and CBI found that
one police, one army, were involved and their names were published. The Government of India has not
proceeded with the prosecution.

Mr Christopher Rao, JNU scholar also made a comment that only Lugtaks and Mughuls are sitting in the
AC rooms in Delhi and not aware of what happened in the field. They don‟t have the heart to create
problem. The pathar will come from Jammu and Kashmir. Ground realities are to be taken into account to
check how the army is working in the field.

One participant stated that AFSPA violated the rights of simple people, violated their right to life. A
grand will to end the misery of north east is required.

Session II: AFSPA: What is the way out? A holy Book or National Security Tyranny? was
chaired by Mr Raj Pushkar, National General Secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberty.

Mr Ravinder Singh, Defence Analyst,

The problem is not AFSPA, but bad governance

"...Quite often the public debate gets distracted on an issue which is not the fundamental one. The
basic problems confronting the country is not of repealing or diluting AFSPA, but fundamental questions
are:
Is their a role for armed forces in implementing social contract between the democratic state and
the society? Social contract in democracies expects individuals to give up their freedoms in
exchange of receiving common good from the state, such as: social justice and public safety.
Can the armed forces in disturbed areas provide the public freedom from fear; political identity
and dignity; justice delivery, safety and stability? Obviously they can‟t. The state therefore has to
build up dedicated professional capacities for restoration of governance; public safety and
stability; socio-economic development; justice delivery; civil liberties and social dignity in the
disturbed areas.

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Military‟s preference for AFSPA is based on its need to avoid frivolous/motivated complaints that can be
lodged against its operations. AFSPA provides the military with relative immunity from prosecution for
errors of tactical misjudgment. But abuse of AFSPA by some members of the military has even larger
negative consequences for it's discipline if allegations of human rights violations go uninvestigated and
unpunished. An enabling legislation is needed that investigates impunity of action by the security forces
and punishes violators of human rights. I think the MoD bureaucracy or the political and military
leadership that denies sanctions for prosecution of such abuses, understand the grave long term
consequences of their inactions.

The security sector operations in disturbed areas has to build public confidence in equality before law.
Even though armed forces have very difficult tasks of exercising restraint under hostile fire, they must
remain accountable to due process. By repealing AFSPA, the state will create inertia in conduct of
military‟s operations for overcoming armed groups. The patrol commanders will start avoiding contact
with armed gangs, as there have been a number of such instances where police personal have chosen to
surrender their weapons to the militants instead of engaging them.

I do not think the call to repeal or application of AFSPA provides solution to the problem of insurgency,
caused by deprivation of social justice, which will remain in disturbed areas due to:

failure of the state to deliver access to justice to civil society; participative and pluralistic politics
at local levels (district/tehsil/block levels); equality before law; accountability of civil and
military officials which includes: moral, administrative, political, legal/judicial, constituency
related, and professional. .
alleged human rights abuse by the armed forces should be verifiable through due process and
punishable according to law. The administrative denial by the Ministry of Defence to allow
prosecution of offenders from the military needs to be replaced by an enabling legislation that
must be provide a right to petition and obtain investigation of human rights violations by the
armed forces.
lack of socio-economic development, and low opportunities for educational growth and skills
development for gainful employment of youth.
Opportunities for corruption leads to collusion between local politicians and armed gangs to
mobilize support through coercion and cultural sympathies of the larger segment of the society.
This collusion creates a vested interest in maintaining insurgent conditions.

Unless the Central Government takes concurrent action on all the above shortcomings, which means
delivering good governance, the problem will grow from bad to worse. The problem will not be solved
by increasing deployment of armed forces, with or without AFPSA.

The reasons for insurgency in Kashmir are quite different: it is separatist assertion for political autonomy
based on religious identity. Problems in Kashmir will also grow as religious separatism as extremists
gaining ground in Pakistan. But in rest of the country, the problem will also grow because the politicians,
both at the state and the centre, refuse to accept that bad governance is the reason for the larger problem,
which in turn has spawned problems such as abuse of AFSPA by the security apparatus.

Mr Iftikhar Gilani, Bureau Chief, Kashmir Times said anyone in uniform is an angel. Accountability to
any power is a prime necessity. January 6, 1993 in Sapore, 62 people were burnt alive. An enquiry has
brought nothing. Jallil Andravi, case: Major Avtar Singh is still absconding. There is no accountability in
the law. Any law cannot be enforced without accountability.

Even in Britain, special law expires once the war is over. But India is the only country where emergency
laws are in force without formal declaration of emergency.
Emergency law must be repealed and political problems should be solved politically.

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Ima Nganbi, President, Apuna Nupi Lub and Vice President, Apuna Maniput Kanpa Nupi Lub said,
anti-alcoholism movement was started by the women in Manipur during 1980s. AFSPA was imposed in
Manipur in 1980. Miss Rose was raped and she committed suicide. Since then women in Manipur started
working on AFSPA. In 1980 Loken and Lokendra disappeared. 29 th December is known as Meira Paibi
day. Malom massacre took place.

Preserve the constitutional rights and cultural and tradition of the people by repealing AFSPA
completely.

Mr Subramanium, commented that Manipur has deployed 12 battalion paramilitary forces, 12 CRPF, 12
battalion of IRB, 60 battalion of army. 260 people were shot from January to July 2009. GGP said we don‟t
need to resort to the judicial system as they are criminals. Manipur has most of the number of EJE in
Manipur.

CRPF 197 is also guarantees impunity.

The Concluding Session: Suggestion and Way Forward was chaired by Mr Wilfred D‟costa, Alliances
Linkages Convenor.

Mr Siddarth Varadarajan, Chief of National Bureau, The Hindu delivered the Valedictory address. He
mentioned that a law like AFSPA throws a fundamental challenge and that we need to question if a law
like this is compatible with the democracy. The year 2004 was a turning point in the struggle to remove
AFSPA. At that time Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh came to Manipur and promised that he would
make the law more humane. The problem of AFSPA is about failure of governance. The question is not
whether army has the right or not to oppose AFSPA, the question is do you have the mechanism of
oversight when laws are violated. The fundamental weakness of AFSPA is that there is no oversight.

The fundamental problem of AFSPA is not whether it gives Indian armed forces the power to shoot or
not. The Achilles Heel of AFSPA is Section 6. Impunity is scripted in the DNA of AFSPA in this section.
India has acceded to the Prevention of Torture Bill. No exception is allowed.

Mr Varadarajan proposed that he is for repeal of AFSPA and in case this does not happen then the section
which should be amended should be section 6. Whatever decision taken by Government on repeal,
replaced or amendment to AFSPA, it should be done in interest of people living in insurgency areas
rather than that of armed forces or army. This will ultimately work in favour.

New Delhi Resolution on Repeal of Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act

8th September 2010, New Delhi

We the civil society group and individuals, having coming together on September 8, 2010 at New Delhi at
the conference on ‘Assessing the call to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 and
deliberated on the issues on AFSPA and

Encouraged that Governments recognition that AFSPA in its present form is problematic and its
initiatives to amend the Act. However noting that it is not only civil society organisations but several
important government reports like B.P. Jeevan Reddy Committee (2005), Administrative Reforms
Committee headed by Veerappan Moily (2007) and Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in
Jammu and Kashmir headed by Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007) have all called for repeal of AFSPA.
Hence the Act should be repealed.

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Noting that AFSPA was passed in haste. On May 22, 1958, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was
passed by Parliament. After three hours of discussion in the Lok Sabha and four hours in the Rajya Sabha,
the AFSPA was approved even though several Members of Parliament opposed the Act on the ground
that it would lead to violations of Fundamental Rights and that it would get around the Indian
Constitution by effectively imposing an Emergency, without actually declaring one.

Aware of the fact that AFSPA is based on a 1942 British ordinance intended to contain the Indian
independence movement (Quit India movement) during WWII. Concerned about the fact that AFSPA
having in legacy from a colonial legislation was enacted in independent India and gross human rights
violation taking place all over the northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir both by the state and non-
states actors.

Concerned AFSPA has been abused and misused and decades, becoming a much despised Act. Long
dependency on the Act for the solution of a problem political in nature and long term enforcement of
„disturbed area‟ status are unconstitutional and is not a solution. Human rights abuses have created more
separatists than resolving the issue.

Noting that AFSPA contravenes Articles 14, 21, 22 and 32 (A) of the Indian Constitition.

Internationally, repeal has been called for by the: UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions (2006); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2007);
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2007).

The AFSPA, by its form and in its application, violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the
"UDHR"), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the "ICCPR"), the Convention Against
Torture, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for
Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention
and Investigation of Extra- legal and summary executions

Concerned that there is lack of genuine political will to solve the problems of north east India and Jammu
and Kashmir. And nexus between politician beauraucrates and underground are using AFSPA as an
excuse. Armed forces must upheld the spirit of the constitution.

Concerned that there is a need of responsible leadership among armed forces taking part in counter
insurgency operations and the Act is counter productive in its application since its application from 1958
Recognizing that there is a need of legal mechanism for the armed forces to work in insurgency prone
areas and constitution of grievance cell as recommended by the Jeevan Reddy commission report to be
taken into account.

Calls upon Government for safeguards to people of the country living under AFPSA. That Indian armed
forces should not be used against movements inside the country

Suggest that three important documents like 10 commandants, supplementary commandants, and Does
and Donts should be incorporated in every operation carried out by the armed forces in counter
insurgency operations.

Suggest that the Act is to be reviewed every six month and it should not be applicable for more than one
year at a stretch.

Suggest that human security should prevail over national security. Military is not a solution to the current
programme. Also noting that the Act was passed in a hurried manner and every section of the Act
requires wide review. Every section must be widely debated and discussed with the civil society in a
transparent manner before passing any legislation with „special powers‟. Ambiguous provisions like

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what constitutes disturbed area,‟ least possible delay, prior sanction etc must be clearly defined with an
up gradation of section 6 of the Act.

Initiative to be taken in every wings of administration: executive, legislative, military and Judiciary and
their functions are reviewed and must take initiative to restore stability in the governance.

No one should be above the law. Section 6 of the Act is vague and ambiguous and needs to be upgraded.
Army should not be dragged into every internal problem and army should be deployed for external
enemies only.

Accountability is the core of rule of law and governance and must be a part of any special law before
putting in into force.

Till the state builds up a dedicated capacity for restoring governance, stability, development and rule of
law in disturbed areas, the armed forces leadership will have to engage the state and civil society in the
disturbed areas. The primary problems of AFSPA can be reduced by reducing the frequent use of the
military for tasks that should be performed by the states armed police forces.

Restoration of internal security, stability, and justice delivery is the ultimate objective of the state in its
disturbed areas. Deploying the armed forces in aid to civil authority is a make-do approach to the
problem.

The state needs to acknowledge that primary reasons for internal conflict and demands for secession
could be due to issues of political identity; economic deprivation; maladministration or bad governance.
Employing the armed forces or imposing AFSPA will not remove these basic causes.

Military is too blunt an instrument for nation-building tasks, which require policing, mediating and
reconciling. The state has to deploy appropriate resources for development administration and
democracy institution building as well as the security system that can restore public safety and stability.

There is a need to examine deployment of specially designed 'stability units' to build coherence between
the security, socio-economic development and public safety needs of disturbed areas. These
'stability units', while having sufficient combat robustness to counter an armed attack, need to approach
the problem of civilians in disturbed areas from the perspective of developing public access to justice,
minority and women rights, human and socio-economic development, etc.

Noting that the test of a law is its effectiveness and that AFSPA through the five decades of its existence
have become more complicated than resolving problems and hence the Act should go.

Calls upon the setting up of a network of grievance cell that will meet the long standing anguish of
people who have lost their near and dear ones; just basic information where their loved ones are.

Reconginising the efforts of all those who have campaigned for long to make the AFSPA a national issue,
especially women of Manipur

Resolve to assert that nobody is above the law.

Civil society must come together to join hands together to work on removal of AFSPA

Recommend to work with Northeast MPs Forum and other parliamentarians on this Act and suggest that
the Northeast MPs Forum takes a stand on this.

Should the AFSPA be repealed, any future legislation aimed at dealing with militancy in areas currently
subject to the AFSPA must comply with international human rights and humanitarian law. Such laws
must ensure that the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of unlawful acts by members of the armed
forces are not impeded.

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 Resolution sent to

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh

Home Minister Mr Chidambaram
Defence Minister Mr AK Anthony
To all Chief Ministers of AFSPA imposed states
To all Members of Parliament of AFSPA affected states

For any questions please contact the following

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

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