The AFSPA debate will go on... Jiribam may happen or may not .... and elections may come, elections may go !!
Cops elsewhere believe they need freehand at times to deal with challenging situations - such were the cases during Sikh militancy in Punjab and the domination of underworld in Bombay/Mumbai.
".... this is the first time that the Government of India has taken this step to impose AFSPA by itself"
“This is the first time that this controversial and notorious legal fiction called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, has been imposed by the Central Government (i.e., the Government of India) in the state of Manipur!
This latest imposition makes history," Congress MP Bimol Akoijam tweeted.
"It is worth recollecting that all the hitherto impositions of AFSPA in the state have been done by the Government of Manipur.”
“Even though this is the first time that the Government of India has taken this step to impose AFSPA by itself (following the amendment in 1972, the power to impose AFSPA has been concurrently given to the State as well as the Central Governments),
the last few cases of impositions were carried out rather surreptitiously and/or extra-constitutionally by the Union Government (insofar as the decision on the imposition were taken/announced publicly by the Union Home Minister before the state government formally issued the notification later after the CM publicly thanked the Home Minister for the decision),” he said.
“This time around, that veil covering the surreptitious/extra-constitutional control over the State Government by the Union Government has been discarded as it has chosen to impose AFSPA by itself in areas under six police stations in the state,” he mentioned.
“With this imposition, the murky handling — such as who is actually in charge — of the law and order and security in Manipur since the beginning of the crisis in May, 2023, continues,” it said .
“Unlike anywhere in the country, now Manipur has the unique distinction of having separate areas under the AFSPA imposed by different authorities — some imposed by the state Government and some imposed by the Union Government!” he mentioned.
Incidentally, the purpose is, according to the Gazetted notification signed by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India (dated 14 November, 2024),
the latest imposition is purportedly “to carry out well coordinated operations by the security forces to maintain the security situation and contain the activities of insurgent groups in these areas,” he stated.
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AFSPA always makes headlines and there are multiple factors and players in the entire saga !!
Indian security forces and even Defence Ministers including A K Antony (of Congress) and Mulayam Singh (of Samajwadi Party as a former Defence Minister) during the UPA regime have opposed repealing or any dilution of AFSPA in the past.
An impression has gone that the AFSPA as a tool is grossly abused by the 'Indian army'.
It is always an election issue in northeast. It is back in the debate in the context of Manipur.
In 2023, withdrawal of AFSPA had created immense hurdles for restoring peace in Manipur. "My soldiers' hands were tied and hence .....," was the refrain from senior military commanders on ground !!
In Manipur elections in 2022, obviously in some constituencies, a large section of voters might have debated the AFSPA issue vis-a-vis merciless killings of innocent Konyak Nagas in Mon district.
A section of BJP leaders also talked about the same, and were generally cautious in drawing out their electoral strategy related to army presence and tackling insurgency.
Manipur has been in the web of insurgency for years.
Now, a perplexing question, if the AFSPA is 'bad in law' and a misused tool by the Indian army in Nagaland and Manipur; why do we have ‘fake encounter’ allegations in Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh?
Notably, of 1,788 such “extra judicial” killings across India between 2002 and 2013, Uttar Pradesh had the dubious distinction with the maximum number of 743 fake encounter deaths.
Closer home in Manipur, it was Congress chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who had told on the floor of the Assembly during his days in power that a militant named Sanjit was eliminated in an ‘encounter’. Manipur police cop Herojot was part of a 9-member commando force which is supposed to have eliminated Chunkham Sanjit.
Now, more importantly, the encounter would have ended up as yet another case in Manipur had not a woman Rabina (an 8-month pregnant) was also killed “in the crossfire”.
The episode had resulted in a high-profile controversy and subsequently a CBI probe. So, yet again, even cops abuse their guns, bullets and powers. Fortunately, the 'encounter' is not a new or old normal in Nagaland.
The web dictionary Wikipedia says, “An encounter is a euphemism used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka since the late 20th century to describe extra-judicial killings by the police or the armed forces of suspected gangsters or terrorists in gun battles”.
The central Home ministry sources say the term "police encounter" was heard the most during Punjab insurgency between 1984 and 1995. Super cop KPS Gill was not from paratroopers !
The infamous forest brigand and sandalwood smuggler Veerappan was killed by the Special Task Force (STF) in an 'encounter' on October 18, 2004 in Tamil Nadu.
The September 19, 2008 ‘encounter’ by Delhi police in which inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was killed along with two suspects in what is now known as the 'Batla House encounter'.
Again 'Indian army' was hardly involved between 2002 and 2006, when 22 deaths classified as "fake encounters" were reported in Gujarat.
Manipur has several anecdotes about alleged "abuse" of power by forces and tragic stories on 'encounters'. In some cases, allegations were fabricated -- comes the refrain from military camps.
A 410-page petition filed in 2012 in the Supreme Court on behalf of two Manipur-based organizations had cited the instance of a 22-year-old who went looking for a missing cow on his bicycle and was found 'shot dead'.
In another case a 12-year-old boy was alleged to have been shot dead in a “joint operation” by Assam Rifles and Manipur police commandos. The boy was 'suspected' to be a member of Manipur-based group PULF, revealed investigations by a Supreme Court-appointed high-power commission, headed by the retired judge Santosh Hegde.
The report did not fail to mention that 30 armed security force personnel with Ak-47 and assault Rifles could not overpower the 12-year-old boy and he had to be 'killed'.
Paradoxically often these 'Encounters' and alleged abuse of power by forces under AFSPA come as part of damage control strategy.
These are also considered bitter pills. “In Punjab, the so-called police high handedness under KPS Gill broke the spinal cord of Sikh militancy," a retired IPS officer had said a few years ago.
In Mumbai these proved 'useful' against underworld dons. This is also because the criminal justice system in India needs corrective steps. The country also needs police reform.
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