New Delhi, November 8, 2013 : Amnesty International India has urged the Government of India to repeal the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act and grant full reparation to victims of human rights violations committed by government forces.
Shashikumar Velath, Programmes Director of Amnesty International India in a media statement in a briefing titled “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act: Time For A Renewed Debate in India on Human Rights and National Security,” said a recent spate of domestic and international criticism of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and continuing human rights violations enabled by the controversial law must lead to its immediate repeal.”
“From the Justice Verma Committee to the Justice Hegde Commission to several UN Special Rapporteurs, several expert bodies have now pointed out that the AFSPA enables serious human rights abuses wherever it is in force,” Shashikumar Velath said.
“As these bodies have noted, the AFSPA has not made these areas safer, but has instead led to gross abuse of fundamental human rights of ordinary people. Authorities cannot simply continue to trot out arguments about national security any longer to defend the AFSPA,” the statement said.
The AFSPA provides sweeping powers to members of the Indian security forces, including the power to shoot to kill in situations where they are not at imminent risk, and to arrest people without warrants, and even detain them illegally, often leading to cases of extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.
The Justice Santosh Hegde Commission, appointed by the Supreme Court of India to investigate six cases of fake encounters in Manipur, said that “the continuous use of the AFSPA for decades in Manipur has evidently had little or no effect on the situation” and described the law as a “a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness”. It also said that Indian security forces have been “transgressing the legal bounds for counter-insurgency operations.”
“Amnesty International India has also found evidence of continuing violations of international law under the AFSPA,” said Shashikumar Velath.
The statement further said, “These include continuing use of lethal force in both Northeastern areas and in Jammu and Kashmir, lack of accountability in cases of alleged human rights violations, and denial of justice to victims.” Sources news reports