The Centre’s decision to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from parts of Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland is historic. And it would further trigger calls for AFSPA to be lifted from other conflict zones, including Kashmir
The Narendra Modi government has always had a good sense of timing. It also works assiduously in areas where the Congress failed abysmally. The intention is to prove to the people that this government is ballsy enough to take tough calls. The trio of Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval work in tandem to leave a mark on India’s troubled areas.
In that context, the decision to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from parts of Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland is pretty significant. It is a historic move. And it would further trigger calls for AFSPA to be lifted from other conflict zones, including Kashmir.
I believe AFSPA should be lifted but done judiciously and in phases. It has its staunch critics who have listed instances of civilian killings. These killings were branded under the callous category of “collateral damage.” No democracy can afford to have such bloodstains on its conscience.
To begin with, the AFSPA was introduced as a measure of counter-insurgency in border areas. It was meant to check local militancy, infiltration by terror groups and ensure enough boots on the ground to hold the peace.
So, three questions arise:
1. Has AFSPA really helped end political violence?
2. Is the Army meant to fight violent ideological battles?
3. And, what would the other steps be to maintain the peace?
The answer to the first two questions is No. The third answer involves government intervention to improve security which could be unobtrusive; not harass civilians; provide employment and offer of a better life to a young generation; and usher in peace accords which are not watered-down versions.
I believe, for many years, the army was the only go-to entity to restore order. The reason being the local police and intelligence agencies were either not good enough or partly compromised.
The AFSPA Act was introduced in 1958 by the then Congress government in Parliament. It grants special powers to the armed forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. To begin with, it was applicable to disturbed areas in the seven sister states in North East: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
Basically, a disturbed area is where the governor or the administrator “is of the opinion that the whole or any part of such a state or Union Territory is in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary”.
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The immediate trigger for the Modi government’s decision is the gunning down of six civilians in Nagaland’s Mon district in December 2021 in a botched-up operation by security personnel. Seven more civilians and security personnel died in retaliatory violence that followed. The Nagaland Assembly passed a resolution for the repeal of AFSPA.
Since the Modi government has concentrated a lot on the North-East saying it should be given due funds and attention for proper development; there has been a lot of activity under leaders like Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kiren Rijiju, Biren Singh and Jeetendra Singh. So, once the government took a stand to reverse the past damage it had to show for it.
The AFSPA has been routinely reviled. The main point of contention is the authority it gives to military personnel acting in “disturbed” areas. Section 4 of the act asserts that members of the military — commissioned officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, or any other individual of equivalent status — are permitted to shoot or use force, even to cause death (shoot on sight) to sustain civil order.
It also provides for the detention of a suspect without a warrant and the use of force against someone who has committed “a cognizable conduct or against whom there is a clear suspicion that he has undertaken or is about to conduct a cognizable offence”.
The five-member Jeevan Reddy panel, which was appointed by the government in 2004 to assess the contents of the AFSPA in India’s northeastern states, suggested the legislation be repealed in its totality. AFSPA was also called by the panel as a “hate symbol, tyranny, and a tool of high handedness”.
In a 114-page report released in 2013, a Supreme Court panel led by Justice Santosh Hegde concluded that AFSPA “failed to confront insurgency and that the military forces were engaging in egregious human rights abuses by functioning behind the protection of the constitutional provision”.
A pertinent question is why was AFSPA imposed on the North East?
When the Naga nationalist project started in the 1950s with the formation of the Naga National Council (NNC) — the forerunner to the NSCN — Assam authorities allegedly resorted to violence to suppress it. That triggered an armed rebellion.
It was implemented in the three Naga-dominated regions of Senapati, Tamenglong, and Ukhrul, where the NNC was prominent, in Manipur in 1958. Then in the 1960s, it was enforced in the Kuki-Zomi-dominated Churachandpur division of Manipur, that was within the control of the Mizo insurgent campaign, and it was expanded to the entire state in 1979, after parties in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley launched an armed insurrection.
As secessionist and nationalist activities grew in other Northeastern states, AFSPA virtually took over these regions.
Human rights breaches under AFSPA include personnel committing sexual abuse, the use of human shields on army vehicles, the fabrication of fake confrontations, and reports of disappearances while in jail.
Manipur may have suffered the most. AFSPA was revoked in the Imphal municipal zone following the Malom tragedy in 2000 and the assassination and alleged sexual assault of Thangjam Manorama.
On the flip side, despite the best of intentions, quite a few creases remain. Nine districts of Assam have been kept out of the government’s decision. They include Tinsukia, Karbi Anglong, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. These districts form the easternmost or Upper Assam, often termed as ‘Assamese heartland’.
The main reason behind keeping Upper Assam under AFSPA is the unconcluded peace talks between the Indian government and the pro-talks faction of the Assamese armed group, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
A close look at the districts of Manipur that are still under AFSPA reveals that peace talks between the Home Ministry and Kuki outfits and Nagas have remained inconclusive. The Meitei groups have abstained so far.
The entire state of Manipur, except for 15 police stations, across six districts, would continue to remain under AFSPA. In Nagaland, nine of the 15 districts, including its commercial hub Dimapur, will continue to remain under AFSPA. Additionally, areas under 15 police stations in the remaining districts would also be under AFSPA.
So, a lot more needs to be done to usher in genuine change at the ground level.
The attempt to usher in peace accords reveal their own story. Watered-down ‘peace accords’ by sidelining the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) faction, the sole signatory to the framework agreement with the Modi government based on which the ‘historic’ talks had started in 2015, have had zero impact.
The NSCN-IM, is an influential outfit, which has stymied other factions joining hands in watered down peace accords. It wants a separate flag and a constitution before agreeing to toe the line.
To bring in lasting peace in the North East, the Modi government needs to avoid the trap of watered-down peace accords, which had become a Congress signature. While the move to withdraw AFSPA is welcome, it needs to be gradually erased. For that, changes in the ground situation would be crucial. Mere smoke signals or drum-beating can never do the job.
This is Part 1 of a two-part series.
The author is CEO of nnis. Views expressed are personal.
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