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INDIA: End 50-Year Crackdown in Manipur, Rights Groups Urge

Ida Karlsson

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 2008 (IPS) - In the world’s largest democracy, people are shot to death on mere suspicion. For half a century, the population of Manipur State in northeast India has suffered from a law that gives the Indian army extraordinary powers, rights groups say.

“India is a U.N. member and one of the world’s largest contributors to peacekeeping operations. But there is a double face. It contributes to peace in the rest of the world while not respecting it in some parts of its own country,” Binalakshmi Nepram told IPS.

Nepram has seen the problem with her own eyes, experiencing the terror brought by both the Indian army and the militants operating in the region. Now she is a writer and activist, and a co-founder of the Control Arms Foundation of India, a disarmament group.

She also founded the Manipur Women Gun Survivor Network in order to help women affected by the violence in her home state.

“According to my research, there are 32 armed groups in Manipur and over 40 battalions of the Indian army operating in this tiny state of two million people,” she said.

Rights activists say that militants have carried out torture, killings, indiscriminately used bombs and land mines, engaged in forced recruitment, and conducted widespread extortion.

At the same time, the Indian government has failed to curb abuses by its own security forces, and extrajudicial executions and torture of detainees, particularly suspected militants and their supporters, remains common.

Manipur was once an independent kingdom. The conflict started in 1949 when the region was annexed to the government of India. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) took effect in 1958, conferring on Indian security forces the authority to arrest and shoot people in the area where the Act operates. Since that time, various rebel groups have continued to fight for the state’s independence.

Dr. Walter Dorn, a consultant to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said he was alarmed when he heard about the situation in northeast India.

“This is clearly underreported. Manipur is in desperate need of U.N. investigation, an impartial conciliation process and even a U.N. peacekeeping operation,” Dorn told IPS. “There are many human rights violations by both rebels and the Indian government and there is a strong need to maintain peace and human security.”

The AFSPA goes far beyond permitting soldiers to use lethal force in combat situations, empowering officers to shoot to kill for the maintenance of public order.

“In this part of India, anybody can be arrested, tortured, killed on mere suspicion,” Nepram said.

The Act also provides virtual immunity from prosecution to those forces acting under it. According to Amnesty International, no member of the security forces has ever been prosecuted for a human rights violation.

“In the land of Gandhi, where has it gone? India got its independence by non-violence. In that spirit this act must be removed. The army could be removed and the police could take over,” Nepram said.

She said that the United Nations should recognise the political and humanitarian crisis that is going on in Manipur.

“They should at least acknowledge that these things are happening. India should be called to explain strategies and policies there and the international community should provide observers there,” Nepram said.

Manipur is closed to foreigners, and the first report on abuses there by Human Rights Watch, which was released in September, was made possible only through the help of a local consultant.

According to the report, at least 20,000 people have died violently since the conflict in Manipur began in the 1950s. Estimates suggest that at least 50,000 soldiers and paramilitaries are deployed in the state – one for every 20 Manipuris.

The report notes that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to a review of the Act in 2005. It concluded that the law should be repealed, although the government has not acted on this recommendation yet.