NCWL echoes call for repeal of AFSPA from North East
DIMAPUR, JANUARY 10 (MExN): The National Council of Women Leaders (NCWL) has extended support to the peaceful march on January 10 and 11 from Dimapur to Kohima against the continued implementation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), killing of civilians and other incidents of Army atrocities against human rights in Naga history.
“Repeal of the AFSPA has been a long-standing demand in the North eastern states of India, supported by civil society organisations and activists across the country. The killing of six civilians by Special Forces sub-unit in Mon district in Nagaland has renewed the old demand for the repeal of the law,” a press release from the NCWL stated.
A press release from the NCWL said that over a period of time, the “credibility of the military justice system to deal with human rights violations in the North-East has become suspect.” “People have been speaking up against the armed forces for their virtual inaction with respect to human rights violations. There has been a marked tendency to cover up atrocities against civilians and take shelter under the AFSPA,” it said.
The NCWL reminded that AFSPA was originally enacted by the British administration in 1942, enlisting the armed forces “in the aid of civil power” to put down the Indian independence movement (the Quit India movement) during the Second World War. “A colonial government bent on staying in power may have seen Indians as subjects rather than citizens with inalienable rights. But independent India replicating the colonial-era ordinance in law can be called nothing but a democratic failure,” it noted.
The NCWL said that it stands with the people of Nagaland in their peaceful and justified demand for AFSPA to be repealed in the entire North-East.
