Author:
Publication: Tehelka
Date: September 6, 2008
URL: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=cr060908whydoesnoone.asp
Q.: Has the AFSPA succeeded in achieving its
goals in the past 50 years of its implementation in the Northeast?
A.: The question is motivated. Don't examine the issue in isolation. There
would have been total chaos had the AFSPA not been in place. This is not an
ideal situation but it is definitely not the worst situation possible. The
law isn't bad, but we need to examine its implementation under these trying
circumstances.
Q.: How would you characterise the unprecedented
civic protests against this Act, especially in Manipur?
A.: Agitators should question their representatives who run to the Centre
every time the question of repealing the Act arises. The army can return to
the barracks but who will manage the situation then? We always become the
whipping boys. In the last two decades, certain new realities have emerged.
Civil society is angry about these issues but vested elements like politicians
and insurgents are trying to hijack these issues.
Q.: Do you agree with people when they call
the Act 'draconian'?
A.: People cite history and call the AFSPA a replica of a repressive British
Act. If they want the Army to function, the Act has to be there. We can't
function under the IPC alone. The police has failed in these extraordinary
circumstances. I cannot ask a boxer to fight with his hands tied and accept
his opponent's blows. Mizoram is trouble-free and yesterday's militants are
ruling the state. The same law was there in Mizoram, yet nobody calls it draconian
there.
Q.: What is your response to Human Rights
Watch's report which asks the government to repeal the AFSPA?
A.: Personally, I am unbothered by any international pressure. Why does no
one question the politician-militant nexus, or, for that matter, what happens
to the huge sums of money pumped into the region for its development?
Q.: There have been instances of human rights
violations against women and children that the Act has made possible. How
can the security agencies defend this?
A.: I am not defending anyone. If there are violations against women and children,
the law will take its course. The Manorama case is being investigated and
I have full sympathy for her. People are heartlessly using Irom Sharmila to
further their cause.
Q.: Do you agree that human rights violations
have served to act as a recruiting agent for militant groups?
A.: It is no longer an insurgency in the northeast. The militants are criminals
today with no cause or ideology. In the long run the politicians' vested interests
rule and become a money, power game.
Q.: If we can't repeal the Act, can we not
amend it?
A.: The Act has been instituted with a purpose. One has to examine the repercussions
of any amendment and how it will affect the functioning of the Armed Forces.
Both sides have to sit across the table to find an alternative.
Q.: What is the future of the Act?
A.: Unless the situation improves the Act will remain in force - and things
are not improving.
