Save Irom Sharmila, Abolish the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
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Madam,
This November, poet and activist Irom Sharmila from Manipur entered the 10th year of her hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958(AFSPA). She started the hunger strike after the Indian Army massacred ten civilians in Malom, Manipur. This was already the twentieth year of the application of the AFSPA in Manipur. On 6 November 2000, she was arrested by the police and charged with attempt to commit suicide under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Her health deteriorated gradually and she did not accept even a single drop of water except being forcefully fed by nasogastric intubation.
We feel that AFSPA grants the Indian Army special powers throughout North-East India and Kashmir to:
Arrest citizens and enter their property without warrant;
Shoot and kill anyone on mere suspicion;
Enjoy immunity against legal action.
According to the government appointed Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission the Act has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness. The United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination has urged the Indian government to repeal the law.
AFSPA is one of the most draconian legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its 60 years of history. Under this Act, all security forces are given unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. It is the army, rather than any civilian authority, which decides that in order to maintain the public order, one must shoot to kill.
This Act empowers the armed forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search, all in the name of aiding civil power. It was first applied to the North Eastern states of Assam and Manipur and was amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states in the north-eastern region of India. They are Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, also known as the "seven sisters". The whole of Manipur has been under AFSPA since 1980. The enforcement of the AFSPA has resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting by security personnel. In Manipur alone, security forces kill on average one to two persons per day, according to non-governmental sources.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act contravenes the Indian constitution and law standards.
Violation of Article 21 - Right to life
Protection against arrest and detention - Article 22
The Indian Criminal Procedure Code
Military's Immunity / Lack of Remedies
The Army Act
States of Emergency
It also contravenes the following International law standards of which the Government of India is a signatory.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
International Customary Law comprising of 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
International Humanitarian Law comprising four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with the two optional protocols.
It is also evident to us that there is a political cause behind this sustained violation of human rights. That cause is the establishment of the rule of the Indian elite over the north east. Manipur, for example, was incorporated into India while ignoring the promise of a democratic Legislative Assembly for Manipur by the then Maharaja. Moreover, Manipur was placed under central rule for many years, by being proclaimed a Union Territory. Even when Nagaland was granted statehood, Manipur was not, giving clear evidence that the Government of India would negotiate only with violent resistance, not peaceful struggles. The mainstreaming of the North East had come to mean imposition of economic exploitation and cultural dictations from the mainstream. This is what led to increasing resistance, and the decades of AFSPA have increased further, rather than decreasing violence. We strongly feel that a country which prides in calling itself a democracy cannot condemn a section of the population living under legalized martial law for almost six decades. We also feel that the recurrent sexual violence on women by the armed forces (highlighted after the murder of Thangjam Manorama) must not go unpunished, though, given the refusal of the government to prosecute the army for acts committed under the AFSPA, no case has ever been brought to court.
It is in this context that the heroic struggle of Irom Sharmila has been taking place. In expressing our solidarity with her, we demand:
The immediate repeal of the AFSPA without its reintroduction under any other name.
The removal of the military from playing a governing role in the area.
The prosecution of army personnel for all cases of murder, rape, sexual violence and torture, and the punishment of all the guilty.
Copy to
Prime Minister of India
This November, poet and activist Irom Sharmila from Manipur entered the 10th year of her hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958(AFSPA). She started the hunger strike after the Indian Army massacred ten civilians in Malom, Manipur. This was already the twentieth year of the application of the AFSPA in Manipur. On 6 November 2000, she was arrested by the police and charged with attempt to commit suicide under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Her health deteriorated gradually and she did not accept even a single drop of water except being forcefully fed by nasogastric intubation.
We feel that AFSPA grants the Indian Army special powers throughout North-East India and Kashmir to:
Arrest citizens and enter their property without warrant;
Shoot and kill anyone on mere suspicion;
Enjoy immunity against legal action.
According to the government appointed Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission the Act has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness. The United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination has urged the Indian government to repeal the law.
AFSPA is one of the most draconian legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its 60 years of history. Under this Act, all security forces are given unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. It is the army, rather than any civilian authority, which decides that in order to maintain the public order, one must shoot to kill.
This Act empowers the armed forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search, all in the name of aiding civil power. It was first applied to the North Eastern states of Assam and Manipur and was amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states in the north-eastern region of India. They are Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, also known as the "seven sisters". The whole of Manipur has been under AFSPA since 1980. The enforcement of the AFSPA has resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting by security personnel. In Manipur alone, security forces kill on average one to two persons per day, according to non-governmental sources.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act contravenes the Indian constitution and law standards.
Violation of Article 21 - Right to life
Protection against arrest and detention - Article 22
The Indian Criminal Procedure Code
Military's Immunity / Lack of Remedies
The Army Act
States of Emergency
It also contravenes the following International law standards of which the Government of India is a signatory.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
International Customary Law comprising of 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
International Humanitarian Law comprising four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with the two optional protocols.
It is also evident to us that there is a political cause behind this sustained violation of human rights. That cause is the establishment of the rule of the Indian elite over the north east. Manipur, for example, was incorporated into India while ignoring the promise of a democratic Legislative Assembly for Manipur by the then Maharaja. Moreover, Manipur was placed under central rule for many years, by being proclaimed a Union Territory. Even when Nagaland was granted statehood, Manipur was not, giving clear evidence that the Government of India would negotiate only with violent resistance, not peaceful struggles. The mainstreaming of the North East had come to mean imposition of economic exploitation and cultural dictations from the mainstream. This is what led to increasing resistance, and the decades of AFSPA have increased further, rather than decreasing violence. We strongly feel that a country which prides in calling itself a democracy cannot condemn a section of the population living under legalized martial law for almost six decades. We also feel that the recurrent sexual violence on women by the armed forces (highlighted after the murder of Thangjam Manorama) must not go unpunished, though, given the refusal of the government to prosecute the army for acts committed under the AFSPA, no case has ever been brought to court.
It is in this context that the heroic struggle of Irom Sharmila has been taking place. In expressing our solidarity with her, we demand:
The immediate repeal of the AFSPA without its reintroduction under any other name.
The removal of the military from playing a governing role in the area.
The prosecution of army personnel for all cases of murder, rape, sexual violence and torture, and the punishment of all the guilty.
Copy to
Prime Minister of India
1068 Signatures
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Soma Marik
- Organisation
- Radical Socialist
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Sara
- Organisation
- South Asian Peoples Forum
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Amrit Wilson
- Organisation
- South Asia Solidarity Group
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sajal nag
- Organisation
- assam university, silchar
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jagori bandyopadhyay
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Umang Kumar
- Comments
- This draconian act must go!
- Organisation
- AID-Boston
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Tathagata Sengupta
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- Association for India's Dvelopment
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Kunal Chattopadhyay
- Organisation
- Radical Socialist
-
Sukla Sen
- Comments
- The AFSPA is an utterly draconian law, a major blot on the Indian democratic system. As it encourages the members of the Armed Forces engaged in tackling insurgency/terrorism a law unto themselves, it only further aggravates the alienation of the local populace and thereby proves counterproductive. Must be repealed forthwith. It is morally wrong. And results are negative.
- Organisation
- EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai
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Nagesh Rao
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- The College of New Jersey, USA
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Amar Jesani
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Prof. Amit Bhattacharyya
- Organisation
- Jadavpur university
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Immanuel Ness
- Comments
- In full support of resolution
- Organisation
- Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society
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Jagmohan Singh
- Comments
- AFSPA must go. All democratic and human rights forces of the world must exert pressure on India to abolish this black law.
- Organisation
- Voices for Freedom
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Mahmood Piracha
- Comments
- Do the right thing, abolish this act
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Aparna Sundar
- Organisation
- Ryerson University, Toronto
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Amitadyuti Kumar
- Organisation
- APDR
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Sushovan Dhar
- Comments
- This act is shame for all of us. Not in our name!
- Organisation
- В
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Feroze Mithiborwala
- Comments
- AFSPA should be immediately repealed. We salute Irom Sharmila who is the new Gandhiji of our age.
- Organisation
- Awami Bharat
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Robin Horne
- Organisation
- International Socialist Organization (USA)
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DIYA SUR
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Sheelu
- Comments
- Abolish AFSPA immediately. Save our sister Irom Sharmila.
- Organisation
- Tamilnadu Women's Collective.
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Bobby Kunhu
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- В
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Susama Agarwala
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- В
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Geudens Jos
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Animesh Bahadur
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Kamayani
- Comments
- The AFSPA grants the armed forces the power to shoot to kill on mere suspicion, violateseveral constitutional rights and as in contravention of both Indian and international law.
- Organisation
- Committee for the Release Binayak Sen- Mumbai
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Mihir Bhosale
- Comments
- A Black Act!!! Pull it Down!
- Organisation
- Radical Socialist
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ck.vishwanath
- Organisation
- ekta
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Nandini Manjrekar
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- В
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K M Venugopalan
- Comments
- AFSPA is a shame on democracy; scrap it
- Organisation
- В
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Debatri Das
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- Fondazione L'Albero Della Vita
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Ashwat Ramani
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Priyanka Borpujari
- Comments
- Repeal AFSPA now! Ms President, hope you are not blind or deaf or dumb or carry a stone in place of your heart!
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John Mathen
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Himadri
- Comments
- Down with Indian Imperialism.Stop atrocity on Manipuri people.NO TO STATE.NO TO GOD
- Organisation
- Radical Anarchist Militia
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soheb Lokhandwala
- Comments
- Democracy&Injustice does'nt go hand in hand
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shruti nagar
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Satyen K. Bordoloi
- Comments
- In a nation where the most powerful two people in the country are two woman - constitutionally President Pratibha Patil the commander in chief of our armed forces and politically Sonia Gandhi the commander in chief of all politics in the country, it's a shame that this is happening to a woman and both you respectable women choose to do nothing even as you grant statehood to a man fasting only for 10 days. Also Madam President since you are the supreme commander of the armed forces, you are directly responsible for all the atrocities committed by your forces on its own people. Please repel AFSPA and let the morality of Irom Sharmila, and thus the conscience of the nation, live.
- Organisation
- В
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FELIX ALMEIDA
- Comments
- India is preying on its own citizens! What a sell out of our own blood to foreign corporate interests!
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Salil Rameshchandra
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shree prakash
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- roopankan
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Mira Roy
- Comments
- Scrap the act and save valuable life of Irom Sharmila and innocent people of seven North Eastern States and Kashmir.
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Samik Basu
- Comments
- В
- Organisation
- В
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Irfan Engineer
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DR. ARIF
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Sourinee Mirdha
- Comments
- The Government is for the people, over and above territories. We hope for due consideration from Indian Government for repeal of any Act that might be exposing human lives to indignity or danger.
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Dunu Roy
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Kabir
- Comments
- We are with you!
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Sudhir Gandotra
- Comments
- Either the Indian Government should declare Mahatma Gandhi as a persona-non-grata or release Sharmila immediately and bring in all steps to provide equality of treatment to all citizens of India, including those in North-east.
- Organisation
- Humanist Party of India
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1068
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