---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kshetrimayum onil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear All,
We would like to invite you for a panel discussion and press
conference on *Sustain
violence and Impunity - 50 years of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, *
*Thursday, 22nd May 2008 at Press Club of India**.
*Please support by endorsing your organization name for solidarity which
will be included in our press release on Thursday, 22nd May 2008.
Your presence and endorsement will be deeply appreciated. Also please
circulate the invitation.
Warm Regards
Onil
Coordinator
Reachout
+91-9818781767
*Intercultural Resources, INSAF and Reachout*
*Invite you to*
*A panel discussion and press conference*
*on*
* *
*Sustaining violence and impunity*
*50 Years of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958*
On 22nd May 1958, the Government of India promulgated an ordinance called
the Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance to meet the challenges arising out
of the assertions of the Naga tribes in the then Naga Hills of Assam and
parts of the then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA). This ordinance was
almost identical to a similar ordinance promulgated by the colonial British
on 15 August 1942 to suppress the uprising of Quit India Movement. It gave
extraordinary powers to members of the armed forces, such as arrest without
warrant and shoot to kill on the basis of suspicion. The Parliament
subsequently converted this ordinance, (*which was brought in as a temporary
measure*), into an Act on 18 August 1958, and the President gave his assent
on 11 September 1958.
Thus, the unleashing of state's violent power or what some have called
"State terrorism", that began on 22nd May 1958 was consolidated on that
fateful 9/11 as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and began its journey as
a permanent instrument to militaristically treat the people of North East.
While the people of Punjab had a brief taste of the Act in the 1980s, the
people of Kashmir have been subjected to the same Act since 1990. But it is
the people of the North East who have been its sustained victims for the
last 50 years.
While two MPs from Manipur opposed the Act in the Parliament in 1958
itself, and protests have regularly occurred, since the 1980s, various
organizations and individuals have also challenged the legal and
constitutional validity of the Act. After 15 long years, the Supreme Court
took up litigation by NPMHR, and while accepting that the disturbed
condition where the Act has been enforced is not due to armed rebellion and
that it does not constitute a threat to national security, it upheld the
constitutional validity of the Act in 1997.
The numerous acts of human rights abuses under the Act came to the fore
again in the gruesome murder of Manorama by the security forces operating
under the Act in 2004. The people of Manipur rose up not only against the
murder but also against the Act, which was joined by various civil liberties
organizations and concerned citizens from across the country and world.
Ultimately, the PMO was compelled to constitute the Reddy Committee to look
into the matter and explore the possibility of substituting the AFSPA with a
"more humane" Act. The Committee submitted its report on 6 June 2005 and
recommended that the Act be repealed. Similarly the Administrative Reforms
Committee headed by Veerappan Moily also recommended on 26 June 2007 that
the Act to be repealed. Earlier, in February 2007, the United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had also recommended
that the Indian Government immediate repeal the AFSPA. There has been no
response from the Government. Even the Jeevan Committee report has not been
made public, though *The Hindu* has leaked the report.
Just as the people continue to suffer under the Act, the struggle,
including that of Sharmila who has been on fast for years, against the Act
also continues. On the 50th anniversary of the Act, to initiate further
debate and to affirm the urgent need to repeal the Act, we are organizing a
panel discussion and a Press Conference. We will also circulate a dossier at
the Conference.
*Date: 22 May 2008***
*Place: Indian Press Club***
*Time: 3:00 pm*
* *
*Chair: *Mr* *Smitu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and
Lokayan
*Panelists: *
Mr Sanjoy Hazarika, Member of Justice Jeevan Reddy
Committee
Dr Bimol Akoijam, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
Mr. Ravi Himadri, The Othermedia
Ms.Shabnam Hashmi, ANHAD
Ms. Indira Jaising, Constitutional Expert
* *
*Supported by* the* National Alliance for Peace Movements, Asha Parivar*
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