Date: 29/08/2022

Relevance: GS-2: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure

Relevance: GS-3: Internal security, Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism, various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Key Phrases: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958(AFSPA), Insurgency in North-East India, Naga insurgency, Peace Initiatives in North East

Context

• The Prime Minister of India while addressing a ‘Peace, Unity and Development’ rally in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district announced earlier this year that the Government intends to withdraw the much-dreaded Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958(AFSPA), completely from the north-east.

Background:

• Nagaland has largely borne the brunt of the AFSPA after it was imposed in the late 1950s when insurgency raised its head in the State.
• In the aftermath of the announcement by the Prime Minister, partial withdrawal of the AFSPA from parts of Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur took place.
• Currently, AFSPA remains in force in parts of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

The AFSPA, Nagaland and other North-eastern states:

• The need for the law was required in the 1950s when Naga insurgents resorted to large-scale violence when hundreds of Indian Army soldiers, central and state paramilitary personnel were either killed or injured in ambushes by the insurgents.
• The Shillong Peace Accord of 1975 with the Naga insurgents led to some peace.
• The peace was short-lived as the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) better known as NSCN (I-M), in January 1980, resorted to large-scale violence across the States of Nagaland and Manipur.
• The Naga Framework Agreement had been signed between the Government and the NSCN (I-M) in August 2015.
• The Naga Framework Agreement does not seem to be effective as the Government has not agreed to permit a separate flag and constitution for Nagaland which the NSCN (I-M) is determined to have.

How has the AFSPA fared in the Northeast?

• A generation has lived with AFSPA in Manipur and Nagaland and residents in these States have been victims of the aberrations committed by security forces for decades.
• The security forces are alleged to have committed aberrations including fake encounters under the guise of the act and no prosecution without the previous sanction of the Central government has aided to the misery of the inhabitants.
• The severity of misuse is amplified as the AFSPA provides all the powers to even noncommissioned officers and the same clause of non-prosecution without the consent of the central government.
• This makes the AFSPA more draconian vis-a-vis the colonial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance 1942, which authorized only the officers above the rank of Captain.
• The consent from the Central government has delayed actions against the errant commandos over the years which has alienated the locals; recent killings in Nagaland’s Mon district being one such example.

What is the judicial stand?

• When the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families’ Association Manipur (EEVFAM) approached the Supreme Court in 2012 to have 1,528 cases of alleged fake encounters investigated through the Central Bureau of Investigation.
• It was found that the first six cases investigated were indeed fake encounters.
• The Supreme court of India at that time declared that allegations of fake encounters made by EEVFAM had some truth and made critical comments towards the government.
• Thus it is the duty of the judiciary to take a stock of the law which in effect curbs the liberty and the rights of the people as enshrined in the Constitution.

Efforts to withdraw and Resistance to a rescinding

• Efforts were made in the past to rescind the law by various stakeholders but nothing substantial has been achieved. Such efforts include:
  • Hunger strike by the iron lady of Manipur, Irom Chanu Sharmila: who went on a 16-year long hunger strike starting from November 2000 and only could achieve partial withdrawal of AFSPA.
  • The Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission was tasked with reviewing the provisions of AFSPA. In its 2005 report it recommended the withdrawal of the AFSPA and had suggested making amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) to achieve the purpose of AFSPA.
  • Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) Recommendation: Subsequently, the Second ARC headed by Veeerapa Moily, endorsed these recommendations.

A serious introspection and review is the way forward:

• Recently the Union defense minister said that all three wings of defense forces were in favour of the removal of AFSPA across regions but the situation was not conducive.
• The AFSPA has been removed from most of the districts of Assam, and many districts of Manipur and Nagaland have also been freed from AFSPA.
• However, there needs to be a comprehensive and serious periodical review undertaken by the Union government to achieve the desired results.
• Investigations into the 1,528 alleged fake encounters also need to be fast fast-tracked taken to their logical conclusion.
• Also the guilty need to be put behind the bars thereby sending out a clear message that those who murder under the cloak of the uniform of the security forces cannot escape the law.

Conclusion:

• The AFSPA is despised by every citizen of the States where it has been in force.
• It also negates the very basic tenets of democracy which espouse the principles “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
• No section of society would ever allow itself to be subjected to a law that is as draconian as AFSPA, which in effect curbs the liberty and the rights of the people as enshrined in the Constitution
• Thus the need of the hour is that the government and the security forces should abide by the guidelines set out by the Supreme Court, Jeevan Reddy Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in dealing with AFSPA issue and should try to take decisive actions so that the hostility of local people can be reduced and they can see their identity as an INDIAN which would be one of the most cherished moment in INDIA’s AMRIT KAAL.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. “The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) is against the tenets of democracy but necessary for the integrity and security of the country” give your arguments in favour and against of the statement. (250 words).