The killing of 14 civilians in an Army firing in Nagaland has given renewed momentum to the demand for the repeal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 with the chief ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya joining the chorus on Monday.
Discussions and deliberations need to be held on the purpose of imposing AFSPA and how to revoke it, Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio said during the public funeral of the 14 daily wage earners of a coal mine, who were shot dead by security forces on Saturday at Oting village in Mon district, on their way home from work.
“AFSPA give powers to the Army to arrest civilians without any warrant, raid houses and also kill people, but there is no action against the security forces ... They (the Army) have created a law and order situation,” he said.
After the funeral, the chief minister tweeted, “Nagaland and the Naga people have always opposed AFSPA. It should be repealed.” Rio asserted that since the security forces directly fired upon the civilians without even stopping them for identification, severe action will be initiated against those involved.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma also raised a similar demand as he tweeted: “AFSPA should be repealed”. Sangma’s National People’s Party is an ally of the BJP-led NDA.
The AFSPA is in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area), Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
After the killing of civilians, several civil society groups, right activists and political leaders have demanded the withdrawal of the “draconian” law.
Akhil Gogoi, president of Assam’s Raijor Dal party said: “The armed forces work under the cover of the AFSPA in the region and do not have to face any court of law. It conducts its own internal enquiry and the people do not get to know whether a case reached its logical conclusion of not”.
Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi tweeted: "It's heartbreaking to see civilians being gunned down by the same forces that were meant to protect them. I demand that laws like AFSPA be repealed from the North East.”
The Trinamool Congress said the killing of civilians by security forces has put a question mark over AFSPA and proved that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has failed to perform his duty of providing security to the citizens of the country.
Senior TMC leader Sushmita Dev demanded that Shah immediately convene a meeting of chief ministers of the northeastern states and said the problems related to AFSPA should be resolved through dialogue and "not through domination and interference in the jurisdiction of the states".
The Left parties, including the CPI and the CPI(M), condemned the firing incident and demanded repeal of the AFSPA.
"The explanation given by the Army that these ghastly killings happened due to an 'intelligence failure' does not explain how such an ambush blunder occurred. A thorough investigation must be speedily conducted and the guilty punished," the CPI(M) said in a statement.
