Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Murder of Citizenry

On the Occasion of 10th Year of Irom Sharmila's Hunger Strike 

New Socialist Initiative - Delhi University

Invites You to a Discussion 

Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Murder of Citizenry

Speakers

Malem Ningthouja

(Campaign for Peace and Democracy in Manipur)

Gowhar Fazili

(Phd Scholar, Dept. of Sociology, DU)

24th Nov, 2 pm, Activity Center Arts Faculty, Delhi University 

For more than past fifty years rulers of India have judged it essential to give blanket immunity to their armed forces while operating in North-East, and in Kashmir since 1989. AFSPA permits Indian Army personnel to arrest, interrogate, and kill anyone on mere suspicion. For people of these regions, AFSPA is the ultimate sign of the rule of Indian state over them. In the face of popular anger against a law like this, pusillanimous chief ministers in Srinagar and Imphal have demanded its repeal, but central ministers in Delhi, and generals of the Army have decreed it to be necessary. It is a frank admission on their part that without an unfettered license to kill, the writ of government of India can not be sustained in these regions. Why does Indian state need to routinely assault the right to life of its own claimed citizens to assert its authority? Is this because of a serious democratic deficit afflicting the very heart of Indian nation? Is this because India is not a free association of right bearing citizens that its rulers value the integrity of territories bequeathed to them by colonial rulers much more than the people living in them?