The Opposition Congress in Manipur has decided to include its commitment to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in its manifesto for the February-March Assembly elections.
The demand for the withdrawal of the AFSPA has received a fillip in the Northeast following the killing of 14 civilians by armed forces in a botched counter-insurgency operation and subsequent events related to it in Mon district of Nagaland. Nagaland is not only seeking the withdrawal of the AFSPA but also punishment for those involved in the operation.
Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee working president Keisham Meghachandra told The Telegraph on Tuesday that they would push for the immediate and complete withdrawal of the “draconian” Act in its first cabinet meeting if they regained power.
“We will include our commitment to the people of the state in our manifesto, which will be released soon. Everybody wants the law to go. Not only Manipur, but also the entire Northeast, has suffered enough because of this draconian law, so many lives have been lost,” he said.
The AFSPA, which gives unfettered powers to the armed forces to arrest, search or shoot to maintain order in areas deemed disturbed, is an emotive issue in the Northeast.
The region has witnessed frequent protests against the law, including the 16-year fast by Manipur activist Irom Sharmila, for its repeal. Her protest ended in August 2016.
The AFSPA is in force in Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (barring Imphal municipal areas) and three districts and eight police stations under Arunachal Pradesh, besides Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress, which could not form the government in Manipur despite emerging the single largest party in 2017, has trained its gun on the BJP-led coalition government over the AFSPA.
The Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP), part of the N. Biren Singh-led government in Manipur, have also demanded the repeal of the AFSPA in the wake of the massacre in Mon district’s Oting.
Meghachandra said the NPF, NPP and the BJP were “indulging” in political gimmicks.
“If they are serious about the repeal of the Act, they should convince the cabinet to get the ‘disturbed area’ tag withdrawn. They are also part of the cabinet. The honourable chief minister too says they are seeking the AFSPA’s repeal. If that is the case, the chief minister and the state government should press the Prime Minister and the Centre to repeal the act in the ongoing winter session of Parliament,” he said.
Meghachandra also highlighted how the chief minister claims in his public meetings that the law-and-order situation has improved. “But then the AFSPA is extended. Why?
The chief minister’s stand is contradictory,” Meghachandra said.
The Biren Singh government extended the AFSPA by one year from December 1, 2020.
The Congress has drawn attention to the fact that its government had withdrawn the AFSPA, which has been in force in Manipur since 1980, from seven constituencies under Imphal municipal areas in 2004 despite reservations from the Centre.
This is not the first time that the party will be flagging the AFSPA in its manifesto. It had promised to improve the law-and-order situation and then withdraw the contentious legislation from Manipur in its manifesto for the 2012 and 2017 Assembly polls too.
Biren Singh recently said his alliance had been demanding the scrapping of the AFSPA and would continue to do so, adding that his government would have to convince the Centre to ensure the law was not reimposed if the state government repealed it. The Manipur Human Rights Commission had recently observed that the state government can remove the AFSPA on its own.
The Nagaland cabinet has already decided to formally move the Centre for the withdrawal of the law.
