North East: Special Powers Act not a solution
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Six decades of insurgency in the north-eastern states, inherited at the time of independence of the country has grown manifold by now. But instead of acknowledging the situation as a failure of political process and lack of effective governance, the Centre continues to believe, as it does with regard to other insurgencies such as the Naxal and Maoist movements, that it is a law and order problem. The centre believes that the deployment of army and para-military forces in these states is merely to assist the law enforcement agencies.to tackle insurgencies. But the deployment of armed forces and their alleged excesses without accountability under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has led to an alienation of the local populace of the region which warrants emergent steps to stem the tide of growing number of rebellious organizations.
Way back during 1958, the Parliament enacted the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act which was preceded by the promulgation of an ordinance aimed at dealing with the Naga insurgents through lending armed forces' support to the local law enforcement agencies in the state of Assam as it then existed and the then union territory of Manipur. After the carving out of the new states of Arunanchal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura during 1972, the Act was appropriately adopted to apply to all the seven states of the North-East and the enactment came to be christened as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). This has become a topic of hot debate in recent years on account of the alleged unwarranted use of power by the army and para-military forces under the pretext of fighting the insurgents and terrorists.
The allegedly excessive use of power by the army and para-military organizations, collectively called the security forces, has the sanction of law which operates in a manner which over-stretches the parameters of the Constitution as law and order is a state subject and armed forces have no role in normal situations. Under the AFSPA, initially certain areas are declared 'disturbed areas' under the Disturbed Areas Act by the concerned state and such declaration is then endorsed by the Centre. In areas so declared as 'disturbed', even the non-commissioned officers of the army are empowered under the AFSPA to fire or kill any person indulging in contravention of law or carrying any weapons, if in his opinion, the situation warrants such action.
n view of the alleged excesses committed under the garb of AFSPA, the enactment was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Naga groups under Article 32 of the Constitution during 1982 on the plea of discrimination. The case was finally heard after one and half decades during 1997 by a constitutional bench headed by the then Chief Justice J S Verma and by his Lordship's companion Justices M M Punchhi, S C Aggarwal, A S Anand and S P Bharucha. In their pronouncement on November 27, 1997 in the Writ Petition titled Naga People's Movement of Human Rights etc.etc. v. Union of India & Ors, their Lordships held that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 was not unconstitutional. The apex court said that the "deployment of armed forces is to enable the civil power in the State to deal with situations affecting the maintenance of public order" and that "the Parliament was competent to enact the Central Act in accordance with its legislative powers as per Entry-2 of List-I, Article 248 read with Entry-97 of List-I and Entry-I of the List-II of the Constitution".
Commenting on the protests by the civil society groups and increasing resentment on the issue of armed forces deployment in the north-east states, the Defence Minister said that "there is a clamour by some civil rights groups for implementation of the Reddy Committee recommen-dations," but added that "the army is strongly opposed to doing away with AFSPA on the ground that its soldiers are engaged in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations and need adequate protection against being dragged to the courts."
Meanwhile, the situation in the north-eastern states simmers with discontent over the issue of the deployment of armed forces and para-military personnel to handle law and order problem which needs to be addressed with effective governance through a correction of the political process and not with unbridled draconian powers in a democratic set-up with a written constitution.
http://www.financialexpress.com/
Labels: North East, Special power Act
posted by Resistance 7/19/2007 10:08:00 PM,
,
North East: National liberation Movements , not govt, run the show here
Monday, July 9, 2007
Neelesh Misra and Nagendar Sharma, Hindustan Times There is no pomp just a house with a tin roof, lost behind rows of shops selling stationery, meat and groceries. But in Manipur's Ukhrul town, this inconspicuous house is far more powerful than any office of the central or state government. This is the office of the Underground. Rebels, not the government, run the show in Manipur and several other areas of the northeast. Largely ignored by the national government and media for decades, the region is home to some of the world's longest running insurgencies, the most complex web of militancy in India. "It is an open secret. There is a parallel government running in Manipur because people are not getting what they expected of the government," said LM Ngaranmi, a Naga community leader in Manipur's Ukhrul district bordering Myanmar. In Ukhrul, the face of the Underground is the man known to most by his position the "Chief Administrative Officer". He was travelling to Dimapur, the rebel headquarters, when HT sought a meeting. Among his many jobs is collecting "tax". In Manipur, government employees have it deducted at source by the rebels' agents at the workplace. Across the region, hundreds of thousands of contractors, traders, shopkeepers and most people with any sort of stable income pay hefty cuts to the Underground. Abductions for ransom and killings are frequent. Even the governor admits the State has been invisible in many areas. "When I came to Manipur (in 2004), there were six sub-divisions totally under Underground control for 10 years. A 10-year-old boy had never seen the face of a police constable," Manipur Governor Shivinder Singh Sidhu told the NE TV channel. Not much has changed; in fact the rebels' influence is even more sweeping. According to police estimates, the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) makes hundreds of crores of rupees annually from extortion. Central intelligence officials say that the NSCN (IM), the main Naga insurgent group that has a cease-fire with the government, has been passing its annual budget of between Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore from taxes each year. There is no way to independently confirm the figures. Across the region, insurgency exists to some degree in almost all the eight states of the northeast Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Almost 5,700 militants attacks have taken place since 2003 killing almost 4,000 people, mostly suspected militants and civilians. In Manipur, nearly all consumer goods being sold in shops from torches to cars cost substantially higher because all vehicles coming into the state have to pay extortion money at Dimapur in Nagaland, headquarters of the NSCN (IM), the main Naga rebel group. "It is not possible for any government to prevent this (extortion) completely," Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio recently told the State Assembly. "Money comes from different departments of Manipur. And the IM is taking annual taxes transport tax, godown tax, and so on. It is becoming quite unbearable," said Yumnam Joykumar, the Manipur police chief. Cadres of the NSCN-IM mostly teenagers and men in their 20s roam the streets of Dimapur, checking if vehicles have the receipts they get after paying tax to the 'Government of People's Republic of Nagaland'. Any vehicle without the receipts is burnt or damaged. Some face a worse fate. Ramesh, a trader's son who declined to give his surname, fled the state after his father was killed in daylight, publicly. "We had a flourishing shop and used to get letters from the rebel groups, including both factions of the NSCN for donations. My father paid these people, but when demands became unreasonable he refused, and had to pay the price," he said. Worse, there is deep alienation between New Delhi and the northeast, adding to the churning. A police officer recalls the day when he was summoned for official work to Agartala by aides of a High Court judge from outside the state. The next morning, the judge summoned the officer to his room and said he was not pleased with the state government's arrangements. "But Agartala is the capital of Tripura, it does not come under Assam, your honour," the officer said. On the other side of the divide, are citizens like those on a recent flight from Dimapur from Kolkata, who muttered: "So many Indians on the flight today!"
Hindustan Times
Labels: North East
posted by Resistance 7/09/2007 09:03:00 AM,
,
