Manipur: Kuki-Zo civil society organisation calls for return of AFSPA

 AFSPA gives unbridled power to the armed forces operating in designated disturbed areas

In September, there will be a review of the AFSPA decision.: File Photo

Umanand Jaiswal, TT, Guwahati, 21.08.23 : A Kuki-Zo civil society organisation from Manipur has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reimpose the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) across the six valley districts to “contain further escalation of violence” in the northeastern state.

The AFSPA gives unbridled power to the armed forces operating in designated disturbed areas.

AFSPA was extended in Manipur for six months from April 1, barring in 19 police station areas located in the six valley districts. The Meiteis are the majority in the six valley districts. These districts are Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Kakching and Jiribam.

In September, there will be a review of the AFSPA decision.

The remaining 10 districts are in the hills, where AFSPA is in place without any exception. The 10 districts are dominated by the Naga and Kuki-Zo tribal people.

The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), a civil society organisation of Kuki-Zo people from Kangpokpi district, feels it is of “utmost necessity to reimpose” AFSPA “in the six valley districts as in the hill districts so that law-enforcing agencies”, including paramilitary forces and the army, “can contain further escalation of violence” and carry out “disarmament in the state”.

COTU flagged the demand for reimposing AFSPA in a three-page memorandum to Modi on Saturday after a protest rally against Union home minister Amit Shah’s speech in the Lok Sabha on August 9 linking the ongoing conflict to the influx from Myanmar, and the filing of FIRs against Kuki-Zo scholars and academics.

The COTU letter came a day after three Kuki villagers were killed near Thowai Kuki village under Ukhrul police district, a Naga-majority area, taking the death toll in the violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3 to at least 168.

While the police said on Friday the three died in “firing between armed miscreants”, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M), a leading separatist group from the Northeast, said on Saturday that “combined forces” of two militant outfits — the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and the Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front — “allegedly killed” the trio.

The COTU memorandum has cited the looting of 6,000 automatic weapons from state armouries and private gun houses in Imphal and separatist militant groups sneaking into the country (implying valley) from Myanmar as reasons for seeking reimposition of AFSPA.

“The state police could recover only about 1,000 arms and 90 per cent of these (looted) weapons are still in the hands of radicalised groups. Besides the secessionist groups in the valley based in Myanmar have trespassed into Indian territory during this conflict,” the memorandum said.

Of the 19 police stations without AFSPA, the most are in Imphal West (9), followed by Imphal East (4), Bishnupur (3) and one each in Thoubal, Kakching and Jiribam.

Currently, AFSPA is applicable in 78 of the 97 police stations in the state.

A COTU representative said that central forces operating in valley districts are apparently finding it difficult to tackle women-led crowds, among others, during search operations in the absence of AFSPA.

On June 7, the state home department had directed the deputy commissioners to ask executive magistrates to accompany central forces during their operations in areas where AFSPA is not in force.

The move followed a request from the army as mandated by law. Executive magistrates are not required in AFSPA areas.

Most organisations in the Northeast view AFSPA as draconian for the sweeping powers it bestows on security personnel operating in disturbed areas.

COTU on Sunday decided to go ahead with its decision to reimpose its blockade of NH2 and NH37 passing through Kangpokpi from midnight in protest against the “failure” of the central government to ensure the smooth movement of goods to the hill districts.