Lonesome  song

WITH THE CENTRE FIRM ON CONTINUING THE ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) ACT IN MANIPUR UNTIL NORMALITY RETURNS AND THE ARMY EXPRESSING ITS INABILITY TO EFFECTIVELY FIGHT INSURGENCY WITHOUT THIS LAW, ONE WONDERS FOR HOW MUCH LONGER MANIPURIS WILL HAVE TO SUFFER, SAYS JB LAMA

There is no answer to when the Centre will lift the dreaded Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Manipur. Some other North-east states are also covered but none of their people have suffered its consequences as severely as the Manipuris. The main objective of deploying troops in civilian areas is to tackle internal disturbances/unlawful activities, but this has now become an exception rather than the rule. Besides the Act being in force since 1979, Manipur continues to be disturbed, with clashes between security forces and insurgents occurring almost every day. Of late, there have been far too many bomb blasts as well.
Under the Act, troops are required to complete a given task in the shortest possible time and return to their barracks. That this is not happening should alone have prompted the Centre into rethinking its strategy. The Supreme Court order makes it clear that the Army should be used only for a limited period and that there should be a periodic review every six months. That the Army’s induction for civilian duty is a sad commentary on the ruling party’s administrative inefficiency continues to mean little to chief minister Ibobi Singh, irrespective of the public sentiment.
Elected representatives are supposed to mix freely with those who have elected them; sadly enough, they have instead become an endangered/protected species living in well-protected/fortified areas. Indeed, their security arrangements make a mockery of the democratic process. Some years ago the Union home ministry admitted that 50 per cent of armed police personnel were assigned to protecting ministers, legislators and police higher-ups. In 1997, during a German diplomat&’s visit, he was provided with two jeeploads of security personnel, which made it difficult for him to interact with people.
Pressure on withdrawal of the Act started after the infamous 1987 Oinam village incident when troops allegedly went berserk after insurgents overran an Assam Rifles’ camp there. And pressure has been mounting since the disappearance, in 1998, of a 15-year-old schoolboy who was allegedly picked up by the Army. In the five-month standoff by the All Manipur Students’ Union that followed, several government vehicles were torched and property worth a crore of rupees was destroyed. Over the years, some people have disappeared without a trace.
Manipuris stood as one when 32-year-old Th Manorama Devi was killed while in Assam Rifles’ custody in July 2004. Naked women staged a protest in front of the Assam Rifles centre at Kangla Fort (since vacated following persistent public demands). A young man set himself ablaze and the 32-party Apunba Lup umbrella organisation took up cudgels for withdrawal of the Act, but cried off after some months.
A housewife, Irom Sharmila, has been on a hunger strike since November 2000 demanding repeal of the Act. Now in government custody and confined to a hospital room — no visitors are allowed to meet her — she is being nose-fed. She mounted her crusade after witnessing the massacre of 10 civilians, women and children included, while they were waiting at a bus stand near Imphal  airport in November 2000, in what was described as a reprisal act by security personnel following the killing of some of their colleagues.
Hopefully their sacrifices will not go unrewarded.
The Centre is firm on not relenting until normality returns and the Army has expressed its inability to tackle insurgency effectively without the Act, so it is anybody&’s guess for how much longer Manipuris will have to suffer. The Centre has brokered a truce with several rebel groups across the North-east, but is silent on Manipur. What is more than passing strange is why Meitei rebels have never been tagged as terrorists.
jbl@thestatesman.net