The Government of India has recently stated that the center was working to make amendments to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and limiting the application of the legislation in some areas. This is not the first time that the Government of India has made public its intention to amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. In 2006, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh made a similar public declaration expressing consideration for amendment of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to make it more ‘humane.’ There has however been no clear step indicating any progress towards fulfilling this declaration.
The declaration to consider the possibilities of amending the AFSPA to make it more ‘humane’ is really quite ironic. Notwithstanding that diverse groups of people from the Northeast have adequately articulated for the complete repeal of the AFSPA to Justice (Retd) B.P. Jeevan Reddy Committee on the grounds that it is anti-people, discriminatory and one that violates the very basic fundamentals of the right to life, there has been an acute lack of responsiveness to indicate that it has the political will to repeal the act. The experiences in Jammu Kashmir and the Northeast are only indicating that the AFSPA is only driving the people further away from any semblance of justice.
Unlike other acts, the AFSPA is one of the shortest documents, with very clear and definite points and with clear intentions to militarily contain the humanity of people living within a specific given geographical space. In fact the points are so unambiguous, that there is little room for misinterpretation. Given such circumstances, it is difficult to comprehend how an Act which provides legal immunity and empowers a non-commissioned officer to shoot to kill on mere suspicion can be amended into a more ‘humane’ one. The enforcement of an anti-democratic legislation in a democratic country reveals the contradictions of a modern state. The only way to make the AFSPA more humane is to repeal the Act and to learn from its experience that political issues need political solutions.
Human experience around the world has shown that political conflicts cannot be addressed through military means; it can only be resolved through political means. The example of the Middle-East perhaps should serve as a reminder that military means have only complicated the crisis and have only succeeded in ensuring that the political conflict has only been prolonged, and at the cost of much human life. Military means has only undermined political processes and therefore the government of India would do best by honoring the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee suggestion to repeal the AFSPA.
In these pressing times, it becomes all the more important for the critical democratic voices within Indian civil society to assume a more proactive role in ensuring that the Indian public consciousness heals from its own burdens of history and shift from its position of monologue to dialogue. Continuation of the AFSPA would only lead to more militarization and violations of human rights. One wonders what Mahatma Gandhi would have thought of the AFSPA, after all it was he who said, “It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.”
Rest assured it would only be in India’s best national interest to repeal the AFSPA as it would make her a stronger democratic country.
