D Padma Kumar Pillay replies: The Unified Command in Assam was created on 24 January 1997, six years after the government of India launched Operation Rhino against the activities of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). ULFA’s demands included an independent ’sovereign, socialist Assam'.
The debate and discussion about the AFSPA should attempt to find what led to the employment of the army in the first place. The answers might offer solutions to the entire problem.
Vivek Chadha replies:The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (or AFSPA) is the one that relates to the Northeastern part of the country. The Act within its provisions allows for areas to be declared as disturbed. It is only after such a declaration that forces are given the mandate to operate along with powers prescribed under the Act. This includes searches, arrests and raiding suspected locations.
The declaration of the Disturbed Area provision is fundamentally at odds with the mutually accommodative integration endeavour of the Nagas with the Indian Union as envisioned in the 2015 framework agreement.
Application of AFSPA and DAA provisions to the eastern districts of Nagaland and to districts or select areas bordering Arunachal Pradesh and the Myanmar frontier would have sent an appropriate message to shore up public confidence for an overall settlement of the Naga issue.
The Meghalaya High Court’s order directing the central government to consider invoking AFSPA in the Garo Hills is more like an advisory premised on a number of High Court and Supreme Court judgments.
Vivek Chadha replies: The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or the AFSPA is imposed in areas where armed forces are required to operate in aid to civil authorities. However, for AFSPA to become valid, an area needs to be declared disturbed either by the central or the state government. This is because under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the army does not have the mandate to carry out operations and the powers to arrest, search premises, etc., are only with the police.
2013 witnessed the highest ceasefire violations in eight years, accompanied by a sharp increase in security force casualties. Some sections within the media and intelligentsia have misunderstood the army’s presence in disturbed areas as a reflection of its vested interests. It is time that the reality of its role and responsibility are better understood.
AFSPA: Looking Beyond the Oting Incident
The debate and discussion about the AFSPA should attempt to find what led to the employment of the army in the first place. The answers might offer solutions to the entire problem.