The all-party United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government on Monday vehemently opposed the imposition of the draconian law—AFSPA in the state, particularly against the backdrop of the Oting incident where 13 innocent civilians were massacred by the 21 Para special forces on December 4.
Initiating the discussions on AFSPA, during the one-day special session of the 13th Assembly here, deputy chief minister, minister in-charge of home, Y Patton said as per Section 3 of the Act, its provisions came into force in any area where the Act was extended after the area was declared “Disturbed” by the Central government or governor of that State if, in the opinion of either, the area was in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that use of armed forces in aid of the civil power was necessary.
He mentioned that the Centre had been declaring entire Nagaland as “Disturbed Area” by issuing notifications every six months and thereby keeping the provisions AFSPA operative in the State for the past many decades. The Centre issued the latest notification on June 30 this year and would be operational till December 29.
He said the provisions of AFSPA, by their nature, scope and intent, gave undue and excessive powers to security forces to take coercive actions like search, seizure, arrest of suspected persons and use of firearms, even to the extent of causing death. And for all the actions that may be taken by the security forces, there was a great deal of immunity provided to them, he added.
Patton claimed that the power and immunity granted to the security forces led to many instances of gross abuse of powers over the years, the most recent being the ghastly firing incident in Oting-Tiru village area.
Informing the members that the Centre consulted the State government before deciding on extending the notification for Disturbed Area every six months, Patton however clarified that the State government had consistently been opposing the notifications on the ground that the overall law and order in Nagaland has been good for many years now, while the situation was much better than many other States in overall crime and other similar indicators.
Further, all Naga political groups were in ceasefire with Government of India for many years now. In addition, the ongoing peace talks were proceeding in the right direction, giving hope for an early solution to the Naga Political Issue. However, Patton said the Centre had always been extending the notification declaring Nagaland as a Disturbed Area based on its own assessment.
The deputy chief minister remarked that the sentiments of the people were strongly against the continuance of AFSPA any more in the State, that it did not deserve to be designated as a Disturbed Area. Hence, he urged every Member of the House to impress upon the Central government to see the situation on ground, listen to the voice of people and withdraw AFSPA from the State.
Participating in the discussion, NPF legislator Dr Chumben Murry alleged that terrible acts of omission and commission had been committed under the Act, causing mistrust, fear and untold miseries on the people. He said it had served to alienate Nagas from rest of the Country, rather than bring them closer.
Even after 60 years of the draconian Act, he regretted that many Indian leaders and Indian Army did not realise or choose to ignore the fact that imposition of AFSPA had resulted in fostering anti-Indian feelings among the people of the State. He remarked that at a time when people were hopeful that solution was around the corner, the gruesome massacre in Oting created confusion in the minds of the people regarding the sincerity of the Centre on the Naga political issue.
Murry pointed out that the bid to hide the crime and misinform members of Parliament by Union home minister Amit Shah by giving a wrong statement further angered the people of Nagaland. It was an unforgiveable crime and would never be forgotten, he said, adding the army’s ghastly act would definitely be written in the hall of infamous crimes and grievous violation of human rights. He therefore appealed to the House to adopt a motion to demand withdrawal of AFSPA.
NPF legislator Imkong L Imchen said the “genocide” on December 4 at Oting village was only one of thousands of similar such genocides committed by Indian security forces in the past 70 years, calling it a well and pre-planned incident. Alleging lapses even on the part of the Mon district administration and police, he demanded that these should be thoroughly probed by a competent authority, other than the Special Investigation Team (SIT), preferably a judicial probe headed by a retired judge of Supreme Court or a high court.
He condemned Shah’s statement, terming it misleading and not based on the facts. He appealed to NLA to pass a resolution urging the Central government to repeal AFSPA.
Regarding Naga political issue, Imchen observed that it was almost 25 years since the ceasefire and peace talks began (in 1997) but, regretted that till date there was no sign of any progress despite countless rounds of talks. He insisted that Naga people deserved to know what was happening, adding that absolute secrecy and confidentiality might be good only up to a certain extent.
BJP member and minister Paiwang Konyak lamented that even after attainment of statehood on December 1, 1963, AFSPA continued to be enforced despite resistance by the Nagas and killing of innocent people by forces. He observed that public anger against AFSPA increased after the Oting-Tiru massacre, claiming that there were now demands for justice, repeal of AFSPA and punish those responsible for the tragic killings in Tiru and Mon even at the international level.
He claimed that Nagaland was peaceful except for extortions and illegal taxations here and there, with shops and business establishments opening everywhere. So, now was the appropriate moment to repeal AFSPA and remove the Disturbed Area tag to bring the people of Nagaland and North-eastern States closer to the nation, he emphasised.
Paiwang alleged that around 4:30 pm on December 4, 21 Para Special Force ambushed and killed six civilians and critically injured two others and, after almost five hours at around 9:30 pm, another clash took place after villagers came out looking for the boys who had left the coal mine on a Pickup Bolero for the village. In the second incident, he alleged that seven more civilians were killed after which the army fled towards Assam side.
Accompanied by Nagaland commissioner and director general of police, he said they reached Oting village and held meeting with village council members, pastor and church leaders, GBs, VGs and village elders on December 5 in which the government assured them that justice would be served, for which the SIT was constituted.
He said the State government paid an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each of next of the kin of deceased, while the Central government paid Rs 11 lakh each, and Rs 1 lakh each to those seriously injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries.
Referring to Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation’s demands for withdrawing AFSPA from Nagaland and awarding befitting punishment to those responsible for the tragic incident, Paiwang stressed that equally important was compensating the victims’ families by providing government jobs as committed by the Union home minister, insisting that it must be done at the earliest.
NPF member Y Vikheho Swu observed that many civil society organisations have lent their support to the campaign for withdrawal of AFSPA. In mainland India too, he claimed that organisations like People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) have championed the efforts to have the Act repealed.
According to him, the latest killings once again brought the notoriety of AFSPA into limelight and stressed using this opportunity to make a concerted effort to have the Act repealed. He pointed out that AFSPA had no regard for even international laws even though the international community had been trying to get the Indian government repeal it.
Taking part in the discussion, NPF legislator Dr Chotisuh Sazo compared AFSPA to the Rowlatt Act, 1919. He alleged that the Act had become a tool for State abuse, oppression and discrimination. He said the Act promoted a culture of impunity, discarded rule of law and granted a licence to kill.
He cited various incidents of abuse by the security forces over the years. He called for a humanitarian approach, instead of using force through AFSPA, for lasting peace. He suggested chief minister Neiphiu Rio to appeal to all his counterparts in the North-eastern States to come together and urge the Central government to withdraw the Act from the region. He also urged MPs from Nagaland to do same with their counterparts from the region.
Planning & coordination, land revenue and parliamentary affairs minister Neiba Kronu advocated a final solution through trust and understanding, rather than the use of force. He emphasised that the purpose of UDA government should not be defeated and more efforts should be given at the juncture. He said it was the right time to make the Central leaders understand the reality.
Taking part in the discussion, NPF Legislative Party (NPFLP) leader TR Zeliang said no amount of reason could justify the killing of innocent civilians. For a lasting peace in the region, he demanded that AFSPA should be repealed. Stating that justice delayed was justice denied, he called for justice to be delivered on time.
He lamented the absence of a State Human Rights Commission and called for initiation of necessary steps to set up the commission at the earliest.
Higher education and tribal affairs minister Temjen Imna Along said the Oting incident brought back old memories of atrocities on “our people” through the draconian Act. He said there was no space for such a law in a democratic country like India. He appealed for its withdrawal not only from Nagaland but from the whole North-eastern region.
NPF member Yitachu alleged that the basic fundamental rights, including the right to life, were being denied due to AFSPA. He insisted that the Act had no place in a democratic and civilised country. The special provision for Nagaland enshrined in the Constitution of India became meaningless because of this Act and called for its revocation.
He said the voice of the people was to get the Act withdrawn from Nagaland and an early solution to the Naga political issue. He therefore appealed to the negotiating groups not to isolate each other in the pursuance of settlement of the Naga political issue.
Food & civil supplies, legal metrology and consumer protection and taxes adviser Pukhayi said the law was unjust for the people of Northeast. He cautioned that as long as the Act existed, there was no guarantee that a similar incident would not happen anywhere in Nagaland.
Deliberating on the issue member CL John asserted that the Act had no place in a democratic country like India. He said no progressive country could afford to give step-motherly treatment to its citizens.
He strongly condemned the incident at Oting and appealed to the government to take steps to get the Act withdrawn immediately. Stressing that intelligence failure and mistaken identity should not be an excuse, he asked the Central government to ascertain the facts before making any statement.
In his concluding remark, leader of the House and chief minister Neiphiu Rio thanked all members who participated in the discussion.
He said AFSPA had its origin in the Naga political issue due to the armed insurrection. It was enacted by Parliament in 1958 in order to give Indian security forces certain special powers to deal with Naga armed insurgency and was in force only in the then Naga Hills district of Assam. Later on, it spread to other North-eastern States and at present it was still in force in Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (excluding Imphal municipal area) and Naga-inhabited districts of Arunachal Pradesh – Changlang, Longding and Tirap. It was also in force in some areas of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam. Outside the Northeast, it was in force only in Jammu & Kashmir since 1990.
In order to deal with the situation, Rio recalled that the then Assam government had imposed the Assam Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1953 in Naga Hills district and intensified police operations. As the situation became worse, he said the Assam Government started deploying Assam Rifles in the Naga Hills, enacted the Assam Disturbed Areas Act, 1955, arming the State police and Assam Rifles with certain special powers to deal with the insurgency. But as the State police and Assam Rifles could not contain the insurgency, Government of India promulgated the Armed Forces (Assam & Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance in 1958, which was subsequently converted into an Act by Parliament in the same year.
He alleged that there had been many instances of abuse and misuse of the provisions of AFSPA by the security forces while carrying out their operations in Nagaland and other parts of the Northeast, particularly in Manipur and Assam. The latest instance of such abuse being the killing of 14 innocent civilians at Oting and Mon, he added.
As NLA comprised democratically-elected representatives of the people, the chief minister commented that the Assembly was the “temple of democracy” in the State and the members were duty bound and responsible to reflect the voice of the people and fulfil the aspirations of the masses.
“Entire Naga society has been calling for repeal of AFSPA and that voice is at its loudest today. Even as we participate in this discussion, the entire State is eagerly awaiting the result of this special session and contents of the resolutions we will adopt today. This House must reflect the desire of the people,” he insisted.
Observing that the desire of the people was to get the undemocratic and draconian law withdrawn, he urged all members to unite and send out a clear and loud message to the world that Nagas did not want to see this Act anymore. Calling for real peace to reach a lasting political solution, he said impediments like AFPSA must be removed so that hurdles in the way for lasting peace were removed.
Removing AFPSA would also contribute towards confidence building, strengthening trust and removing the feeling of alienation from the people’s mind, he added.
Asserting that Nagas had made significant contributions towards nation building and that they were keen to continue giving efforts to strengthen the country’s foundation, especially by the youth, he therefore stressed that it was all the more important to make every effort to regain public confidence and trust and remove the impediments.
He said ex-gratia and employment to the next of kin of deceased had been assured by the Central Government. However, in case the families of the deceased preferred a job in the State government, he said the government was ready to give Grade III and IV posts as per their qualifications. Medical expenditure of all the injured would be borne by the State, he added.
Rio further sought cooperation and support from citizens and CSOs in the government’s “collective effort” to restore normalcy in the interest of all citizens.