WGHR calls for the repeal of The Armed Forces Special Powers Act

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grants special powers to the armed forces of the union to carry out counter insurgency operations in the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh since 1958 and in Jammu Kashmir since 1990. Once an area is declared 'disturbed' under this Act, the armed forces of the union can arrest and detain citizens without warrant, search and destroy properties without warrant and even use force to the extend of killing citizens on mere suspicion. And no legal action can be taken up against the armed forces without the prior sanction of the central government.

Since it was first imposed half a century ago, AFSPA has legitimised a series of gross human rights violations. Fundamental rights such as the right to life, the right to a fair trial, the right to remedy and reparation, the right against torture and the right against arbitrary detention (as well as a series of economic, social and cultural rights) have been consistently violated in the areas where AFSPA has been used. The prolonged application of this Act has not only institutionalized a climate of impunity but has also alienated the public and fuelled a cycle of violence, increasing insurgency rather than dampening it.

Civil society in India as well as many political parties have been demanding the repeal of this law for many decades. Ms. Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri poet, has created history as she enters the 10th year of her indefinite hunger strike pressing this demand.

The Committee to Review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (setup by the Union Home Ministry and headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy, former Judge of the Supreme Court), the Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by present law minister V. Moily and the Working Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammu and Kashmir led by the present Vice President, Hamid Ansari, have all recommended repeal of AFSPA.

In 1997, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that by imposing AFSPA, the Government of India is in fact using emergency powers without resorting to the procedures laid down in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. Other UN committees – including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – have raised serious concerns on the continuous application of the Act. In 2007, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination unequivocally urged the Government of India to repeal the Act within one year. During her visit to India in March 2009, the High Commissioner for Human Rights herself also urged the Government of India to repeal this Act.

Since the last winter session of the Parliament, an Armed Forces Special Powers Amendment Bill has been listed and is likely to be tabled during the current budget session of the Parliament. Till date, the bill has not been made public.

WGHR stands for the repeal of AFSPA in totality, insisting that no part of the Act should be inserted in any other legislation of the country. Any law enacted to replace this Act should be fully compatible with the Government of India's obligations under internal human rights and humanitarian obligations.

Download related documents:

• Getting Away with Murder, Human Rights Watch Report, August 2008
• Democracy ‘Encountered’: Rights Violations in Manipur, Independent Citizens Report, November 2009
• Extracts of Concluding Observations of UN Treaty Bodies on AFSPA
• Report of the Committee to Review the AFSPA, June 2005