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North East : Movement against Army Act goes global |
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Human Rights activists across the world kicked off a five-day demonstration on Sept. 13 in support of the movement in Manipur for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and hunger striker Irom Sharmila.
The programme is being coordinated by the Imphal-based Manipur Forward Youth Front and the Mumbai-based rights forum, the National Alliance for Peoples Movement. Front president Sapamcha Kangleipal claimed that demonstrations were held at seven places in the US, two places in the UK, Bangladesh, Pakis¬tan and in some Arab countries the same day (Sept. 13). But details of the demonstrations in other parts of the world were not immediately available.
Led by leaders of the Mumbai-based rights group, mostly women, a “solidarity fast” was observed at Imphal’s Keishampat crossing. The fast will continue for five days. The leaders of the alliance, Faisal Khan from Mumbai, Biju Borbarua from Assam and Sandeep Pandey from Uttar Pradesh, are taking part in the fast.
Pandey said the Army Act had no place in a democratic coun¬try. Instead of solving problems, it has become counter produc¬tive. So the Act should be repealed, he said.
“We have sought help from the world community in the fight against the draconian Act and also solidarity for Sharmila. This is to mount pressure on New Delhi to repeal the Army Act,” Kan¬gleipal said.
The launch of the solidarity fast came two days after the Apunba Lup observed Anti-Army Act Day on September 11 to mark the completion of five decades of the imposition of the Act in the Northeast.
The fast marks the second phase of the movement against the Act. Kangleipal said more leaders of human rights groups would arrive from other parts of the country to take part in the fast.
The Apunba Lup was formed in July 2004 after a woman from a village in Imphal East, Thangjam Manorama, was arrested by the jawans of Assam Rifles and shot dead without proof of her being a militant. Manorama was allegedly raped by Army men before she was killed, and this led to large scale protests in the state, espe¬cially in the capital Imphal.
The sweeping powers which the Army enjoys under the AFSPA, was blamed for Manorama’s arrest and death. The Manmohan Singh Government in Delhi finally yielded and constituted the Jeevan Reddy Committee to review the Act.
A. Langdon, one of the four coordinators of the Apunba Lup, said his organisation commemorated the completion of 50 years of the Act “to remind New Delhi that we have not changed our stand”.
The Reddy Committee and the Administrative Reforms Committee have recommended that the Act be repealed after incorporating some of the essential provisions into the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
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