Organisations come together in New Delhi to urge political parties to take up AFSPA repeal
NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 (MExN): The Lok Sabha election is round the corner; political party manifestos and rhetoric is all over. And even at this crucial juncture, political parties have maintained silence on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or its repeal.
To “create a political pressure for repeal of AFSPA,” an “anti-AFSPA” rally was organized in New Delhi on March 30 from the Mandi House metro station to Jantar Mantar. The rally was jointly organised by Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign (SSSC), All India Students Association (AISA), AIPWA, RYA, DSF, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union, North East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS), Voices against 377, NAPM and Right to Water Campaign.
In efforts to urge political parties to take up the issue of AFSPA, an open letter was issued by the SSSC and endorsed by many human rights’ activists and organizations across the country, addressed to political parties including AAP, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, left parties, regional parties of Jammu & Kashmir and the NE. The organisations also requested academicians and columnists to write on the issue in newspapers to highlight it.
Ravi Nitesh of SSSC said that the draconian and inhuman law of AFSPA has existed for almost 60 years now, yet the Government remains least bothered. Almost all major parties in the country have been silent about the everyday horror in the States to which AFSPA applies.
Devika Mittal, a Delhi University (DU) student and member of SSSC, said that while political parties are talking about development, secularism and corruption, these claims and promises hold no meaning in AFSPA States. “There can be no development in AFSPA states without the revocation of AFSPA, which is also the face of corruption in these states,” she noted.
Rupam, a DU student from Assam, stated that the promise of a better future is intertwined with the repeal of AFSPA from these states. He said that “Repeal of AFSPA is the only way forward for a better India.”
After the rally, a public meeting was held at Jantar Mantar.
Anubhuti from the JNUSU talked about the human rights’ violations enabled by AFSPA. Ram Mohan Rai, a social activist from Haryana, talked about how AFSPA is “anti-democratic.” Students from Kashmir and NE also shared their experiences. Raies ul-Haq, a DU student also talked about other repressive laws, like the Public Safety Act in Kashmir.
During the programme, the Irom Sharmila Scholarship, to be granted to a post-graduate student from an area with internal armed conflict was also awarded by by Dr. Deepti Priya Mehrotra and Deepti Sharma to Seram Rojesh, a PhD student of Delhi School of Economics. He is from Manipur, and has tried to highlight the issue through his research works and activism.
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