Naga firing proves high time AFSPA is repealed: Sharmila
KOLKATA: Rights activist Irom Sharmila, who was on a 16-year hunger strike against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), feels the recent killing of civilians in firing by security forces in Nagaland should be an eye-opener to repeal the controversial security law from the northeast.
Sharmila said the AFSPA is not only an oppressive regulation, it tantamounts to gross violation of the basic human rights. The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without prior warrant. In the northeast, it is in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area) and some districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Assam. “The Nagaland incident has once again shown why the draconian AFSPA should be withdrawn from the northeast. It should be an eye-opener. Human lives are not so cheap. For how long will the people of the region suffer because of it? In the name of battling insurgency, you can’t take away people’s basic rights. There are other ways to tackle it,” Sharmila, who ended her marathon hunger strike in 2016, said.
“After the passing of the Act in 1958 and subsequent implementation in the northeast, did it achieve the desired purpose? If not, what is the use of thrusting it on the masses? It’s high time the Centre and state governments sit together and take a relook at AFSPA,” she said. Critics maintain AFSPA has failed to control insurgency despite giving armed forces powers to act with impunity, sometimes leading to human rights violations.