Witoubou Newmai
Simply refusing to repeal the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is one thing. Concertedly defending the imposition of the draconian law on the face of heart rending voices for the repeal of the Act is altogether a different thing. There can be no higher degree of abuse on democratic principles than ignoring the voice of its citizenry by the state.
Defending the continued imposition of the draconian law, Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi said, "If the Army is required to handle insurgency, we require AFSPA. If we don't have AFSPA, our hands are tied and we cannot do our job. It is an enabling provision and not a draconian provision."
This situation exposes the contradicting approach of the Indian strategists. Promulgation of AFSPA to deal with internal issues is akin to the employment of the corporal punishment by school teachers on students or the use of hammer and iron rod as anesthetic on patients. Ironically, we are living at a time where even corporal punishment is banned in schools. Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi further said, "There were no recent cases of misuse of the law in the region." Does this statement also mean to imply there has been no misuse of AFSPA in the past?
India ought to grow up and face the advancing world to prove its worth on their ingenuous claim as the champion of democracy. Its continuous embrace of AFSPA is a great departure from the going of its ideological concord.
"A democracy and its legislative institutions have to respect the international obligations..." This was stated by the UN Special Rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai in an interview with The Hindu recently. Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, Iraq under Saddam Hussain and Afghanistan under the Talibans are just few glaring examples of leaders who were never solicitous about the "international obligations", especially on the issue of human rights.
In an earlier edition, this column had highlighted the various campaigns by international agencies against AFSPA. Several UN human rights bodies have recommended that the AFSPA be repealed or significantly amended. These include the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2014), the Special Rapporteur on violence against women (2014), the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (in 2013 and again in 2015), the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (2012), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2007), and the UN Human Rights Committee (1997).
As recent as on November 5, 2015, the Amnesty International had made this statement—“Despite repeated calls to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from UN experts as well as national and international groups, the Act continues to be enforced and continues to cause flagrant human rights violations.”
According to the Amnesty International, during the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay’s visit to India in March 2009, it was clearly stated that the Act breached contemporary international human rights standards. “Furthermore, Margaret Sekaggya, then UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in 2011 and also Christof Heyns, then UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions in early 2012, had recommended repeal of AFSPA. During the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in 2012, India also received specific recommendations to review and repeal AFSPA,” said the statement.
However, these recommendations were ignored as India was reluctant to accept them, it added. International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has also been asking the Government of India to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) without further delay. “The AFSPA has facilitated gross human rights violations by the armed forces in the areas in which it is operational,” Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific Director of the ICJ said. “It is a repressive and draconian law that should have no place in today’s India.”
On the face of these international and national campaigns against the AFSPA, India should no longer continue to justify the imposition of the draconian Act.
