Action Requested || Sample Letter || Background
Please
respond before 31 December 2010
Update
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Summary
Ms Irom Chanu Sharmila, a prominent non-violent
protestor from Manipur, India, has been on indefinite
fast since 4 November 2000, demanding the repeal of the
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). This year will
mark the completion of her 10-year fast.
Since July this year, people of the Indian state of
Jammu-Kashmir have been protesting against the abusive
power of the Indian army and pressing for the same
demand: Repeal the AFSPA.
AFSPA, a draconian legislation imposed in the North
Eastern and Jammu-Kashmir states, grant the army and
security forces special powers to search and destroy
properties; to arrest, detain and even kill civilians on
mere suspicion. AFSPA also brings impunity to the
security forces who have committed enforced
disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture, rape
and arbitrary detention in these states.
Despite the appalling human rights violations, the Indian
government justifies that the AFSPA is necessary to
prevent secession of the North Eastern states, as well as
the area of Kashmir, from the Indian Union. However,
enforcement of AFSPA has resulted in negation of not only
the democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution
of India but also the international standards enshrined
in the United Nation human rights covenants which Indian
government has signed. The Indian government has
benefited from the strategic positioning of these states,
their resources and wealth, without due regard for the
welfare of the people there.
Afflicted by AFSPA, the people living in Kashmir and in
the seven North Eastern states of India await the
intervention of the international community to urge the
government of India to repeal AFSPA.
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Action Requested
Please write polite letters to express your
concern over the Indian government¡¦s enforcement of
the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which results in
the violation against civilians¡¦ lives, security and
property; and urge the authorities to repeal the
Armed Forces (Special Power) Act immediately. |
| Send
letters to: |
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Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minster of India
Prime Minster's Office, South Block
Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110 011, India
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Fax: +91-11-2301 9545 / 2301
6857 |
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| Send
copies to: |
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- Shri A K Antony
Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister)
104, South Block, New Delhi 110 011,
India
- Mr P Chidambaram
Home Minister, Ministry of Home
Affairs
North Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110 011, India
- Shri M. Veerappa Moily,
Union Cabinet Minister for Law &
Justice,
Ministry of Law and Justice,
4th Floor, A-Wing, Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi-110 001
- Diplomatic representatives of India
in your countries.
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Fax: +91-11-23015403
Fax: +91-11-2309 2979
Fax: +91-11-23384241 / 23387259 / 23382733
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Sample
Letter
We are writing with grave
concern about the innumerable cases of human
rights abuses in the seven North Eastern states
and in Jammu-Kashmir on account of the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act (1958). In the name
of tackling insurgency, AFSPA has granted the
armed forces unchecked powers and impunity to
loot, to arrest without a warrant, to rape,
torture and to kill on mere suspicion, resulting
in the loss of thousands of innocent lives. The
Ministry of Home Affairs admitted that 3,842
persons were "killed/surrendered/arrested in
2009, as against 4,318 in the previous
year."
It is regrettable that AFSPA has brought a bad
reputation to the Indian state, drawing criticism
from international bodies and agencies. In 2000
and in 2007, the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women recommended to the
Indian Government "to abolish or reform the
Armed Forces Special Powers Act." In 2007,
the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination urged the Government of India, the
State party, " to repeal the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act and to replace it "by a
more humane Act¡¦¡¨. In 2009, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms.
Navanethem Pillay, said that the Act breached
"contemporary international human rights
standards." On 14 June 2010, the European
Parliament also demanded the repeal of the AFSPA.
The various provisions contained in the AFSPA
contravene fundamental rights enshrined in the
Constitution of India, such as the right to life
(Article 21), the right to protection against
arrest and detention (Article 22), the right to
equality before the law (Article 14). Besides,
the same provisions violate rights enshrined in
Articles 2, 6, 7, 9 and 26 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which
India is a signatory.
Therefore, counting on your own promise in
December 2006 to amend the Act and to ensure it
was "humane", we strongly request your
government to repeal the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act immediately and unconditionally.
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Background
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was passed
on 11 September 1958 and promulgated with retrospective
effect from 22 May 1958 by the Parliament of India to
suppress insurgency in Nagaland, conferring special
powers upon armed forces in the "disturbed
areas". It was soon extended to all the North
Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. In July 1990,
the Act was extended to Jammu and Kashmir under the Armed
Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990.
Protests and Criticisms Against the AFSPA
Demanding the repeal of AFSPA, Irom Chanu Sharmila of
Manipur has been on a hunger strike, following
Gandhi¡¦s non-violent principle, since 4 November 2000,
soon after the alleged killing of ten civilians by the
Assam Rifles (an Indian Armed Forces unit) at Malom near
Tulihal Airport on 2 November 2000.
On 6 November 2000, three days after she launched the
strike, she was arrested by the police and charged with
"attempt to commit suicide". Since then Irom
Sharmila has been under a ritual of release and re-arrest
every year. She has been kept in solitary confinement as
a high security prisoner for almost ten years.
Human Rights Violations by AFSPA
The AFSPA granted security personnel unchecked powers,
enabling them to commit crimes against civilians with
impunity. According to Section 4 of the Act, the army
can:
- Shoot to kill (section 4(a));
- Destroy property (section 4(b));
- Arrest anyone without a warrant (section 4(c));
and
- Enter and search without a warrant to make an
arrest or to recover any property (section 4(d))
Section 6 of AFSPA establishes that no legal
proceeding can be brought against any member of the armed
forces acting under the AFSPA without the permission of
the Central Government. This section leaves the victims
of the abusive armed forces without remedies.
In 1991, the United Nations Human Rights Committee
questioned India on the validity of the AFSPA.
Human Rights Watch has denounced the Act as a "tool
of state abuse, oppression and discrimination." UN
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, asked
India, on 23 March 2009, to repeal the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act
Historical Background of the AFSPA
Originally, Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Ordinance-1942 was enforced in the pre-independent India
by British officers soon after the Quit India Movement
(one of the freedom movements) started, in order to
suppress all freedom movements in the country.
Since 22 May 1958 when AFSPA was enforced, the lives of a
generation of people in North Eastern states and in
Jammu-Kashmir have been destroyed. Their freedom and
prosperity has been suppressed by related violence,
impeding the development of their society. Thus, AFSPA
has caused further alienation of the people in the states
where the Act is in force, giving them more reason to
secede from a country that "oppresses" them.
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Sources:
Deccan Herald, the Hindu, Human Rights Watch, IBN Live,
South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, Local
source .
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