Dimapur, June 27 (MExN): The influential North East Students’ Union today lambasted the statement of Indian Defence Minister AK Anthony for opining that it is not time to scrape the AFSPA and said that only when the Defence Minister’s dear and near ones become victim of AFSPA, then he will understand.
A press communiqué received here from the NESO, chairman Dr Samujjal Bhatacharjya and general secretary, NSN Lotha, while condemning the defence minister’s words, stated that the NESO fails to understand what Anthony meant when the fact that the AFSPA has been responsible for numerous acts of inhuman perpetration and atrocities for the last five decades while failing to achieve its paramount objective of curbing insurgency uprisings in the North East region.
“What does he mean by ‘I don’t think the time has come for the repeal of the AFSPA…’” stated the communiqué and added, “Is Mr Anthony still not satisfied with the killing of lacs of innocent people and unaccountable number of molestation?”
The NESO assumed that the defence minister had never faced any form of casualties to his dear and near ones from the ‘trigger-happy Indian soldiers’ for which the Defence minister does not understand the plight and woes of AFSPA victims.
“Only when his near and dears ones becomes victims of AFSPA thence, he will be the one to shout in the parliament for immediate repeal but it will be too late then,” stated the communiqué.
The Indian Defence Minister A K Antony had on Tuesday rejected recommendations by the Administrative Reforms Commission to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act saying that the anti terror law cannot be entirely done away with.
“I don’t think the time has come for the repeal of AFSPA, but there is always scope for improvement,” Antony said at the sidelines of a function and added that “extraordinary powers and laws” were required by the armed forces to operate in extraordinary conditions. The minister said the law could be modified to be “more humane”, but the provisions were required to maintain law and order in “extraordinary” conditions.
The North East Students Organization strongly condemned the statement and called upon sagacious leaders of India to accept the recommendation of the ARC for repeal of AFSPA so as to ameliorate the pitiable condition of the people living under the terror of AFPSA and let the people of North East live like human beings.
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