AFSPA

BANGALORE DECLARATION AGAINST ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH IROM SHARMILA

 

 

BANGALORE DECLARATION AGAINST ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH IROM SHARMILA gomanipur.com

The following is the declaration taken after the seminar which took place in SCM house, Mission Road Bangalore in FULL DAY SEMINAR on `Irom Sharmila and AFSPA. The declaration goes as: We the civil society organisations and concerned individuals of Bangalore hereby express our deep concern and solidarity with the ten year-hunger-strike of Ms. Irom Sharmila and the struggle of the people of the North East and Jammu and Kashmir demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Having conducted a six-days-campaign in Bangalore from 29 January to 3 February 2011 culminating in a day long seminar on AFSPA and a protest, we hereby resolve the following:

We are outraged by the prolonged imposition of AFSPA, which allows the military to get involved in the ‘internal’ administration of the democratic order of the country, in one part or the other since 1958, and its adverse impact on the democratic rights of the peoples of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir,

We are concerned that AFSPA continues to be the most significant repressive tool of the Indian state that empowers even a non commissioned officer of the armed forces of union to kill on mere suspicion and provides legal immunity from prosecution, thereby causing untold misery and agony among the peoples of the affected regions,

We are concerned over the importance being given to AFSPA on the part of the state in the context of the increasing militarization of the society in the sub-continent especially after 9/11 and the growing communalization of the polity in India as a whole, we also unequivocally condemn the violence that goes in the name of ideologies which are supposed to be ‘pro-people’,

We are concerned over the way the media is reporting the incidents of violence in J&K and the North-East by and large ignoring the assault on human rights by the guardians of law and order and broadly endorsing these actions, in the name of 'national security' and justifying those policies of the state that militate against democratic norms and humanitarian principles,

We oppose this Act which has led to gross civil and political rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial execution, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, arbitrary arrest and detention,

We assert that the imposition of AFSPA also has severe economic, social and cultural cost including erosion of civil administration, lack of access to education, basic health care, destruction of properties and sources of livelihood, and environmental destruction,

We further assert that the continuation of the 'disturbed area' status under the AFSPA in many part of the country is illegal in view of the violation of the mandatory six monthly periodic directed by Supreme Court in its 1997 Judgment,

We also note Further that the climate of impunity entrenched in these areas have led to the complete subversion of the Rule of Law including non-registration of cases against the armed forces, and even if the few cases where investigations are completed the criminal prosecution is pending for want of sanction from the Central Government on the application send by the State governments,

We remind the Government of India about the recommendations of Government’s own appointed B.P. Jeevan Reddy Committee (2005), Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Veerappan Moily (2007) and Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir headed by Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007), which have consistently recommended the repeal of AFSPA,

We recall that different committees and commissions set up by different State Governments into specific incidents of violence have also acknowledged the unbridled power the security forces enjoys under AFSPA,

We emphasize that the regions where AFSPA have been imposed, there exists suppressed democratic aspirations of people and the prolonged imposition of AFSPA has resulted in deepening the cycle of violence. Hence, only the repeal of AFSPA will open up the necessary democratic space for addressing the root causes of the political instability,

We are deeply disturbed by the increasing interference of the military establishment in the democratic processes in general and in particular the outcry that the Army top brass made in connection with the decision to review AFSPA,

We therefore the collectively demand:

1. that the Government of India repeal immediately

· The Armed Forces (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) Special Powers Act, 1958 (as amended in 1972), and

· The Jammu and Kashmir Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990

2. that the Government must refrain from inserting any part of the Acts into any other legislation granting unbridled powers to the armed forces of the union or the State police.

We call upon all those who are concerned about justice, peace and freedom to support the ongoing campaign for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and resist the increasing militarization of democratic spaces.

Please copy the text and print it in A4 size paper sheet and sign the document to repeal the arm force special power act and sent it to
Human Right Alert
Kwakethel Thiyam leikai
Imphal -795001 Manipur

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Support the campaign let not make Irom sharmila Fast for another year..................let us end this