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Jehangir Rashid
Srinagar

IROM Sharmila returned to Manipur from New Delhi deeply disappointed since the government refused to revoke the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), despite her heroic peaceful protest. She continues her epic seven-year-old fast. But miles away from Manipur support for revocation of the AFSPA is gaining ground. People from the Kashmir valley have taken to protesting against the AFSPA. In fact, a campaign against the imposition of the Act has already been initiated. Political parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference (NC) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been demanding revocation of this Act. Ordinary people are tired of the misuse of AFSPA. “The imposition of AFSPA gives unbridled powers to the security forces to arrest, torture and kill a civilian while they carry out their daily course of action. Security forces, together with the Special Operations Group (SOG), label a civilian a militant if they face opposition to their actions,” said Aijaz Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar.

Though most people are in favour of revocation of the AFSPA, they are not too enthusiastic about handing over law and order to the local police. They say that this may result in a situation where unlimited powers are given to the police, which they are most likely to misuse. A section of people feel that the demand for the revocation of the AFSPA by PDP is nothing but an election ploy (the elections for the state assembly are due to be held next year). When Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, patron of PDP, was chairman of the unified command for three years he never raised the issue. People say since the PDP could not disband the SOG of the police, the party is on the lookout for fresh issues to tap for the ensuing assembly elections. Meanwhile, according to CPI (M) state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, the demand for the AFSPA’s revocation is now part of a campaign. He said that political parties have been making the right moves by asking for revocation and this would mobilise public support. “Governor Lt. Gen (Retd) SK Sinha, while addressing legislators on the first day of the Budget session on January 8, accepted that the security situation in the country needs to be reviewed. If the governor himself says the security situation needs to be reviewed then I believe that the AFSPA should not be imposed,” said Tarigami. He also said that the time has come when the AFSPA along with the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) should be revoked. “The demand of revocation by the PDP is part of a campaign launched for revocation of the Acts and we will try our best to mobilise public support. Our party people in Parliament will raise this issue. We will ensure that Parliament is taken into confidence so that AFSPA and DAA are revoked,” said Tarigami. National Conference (NC) and PDP leaders have been blaming each other for trying to acquire political mileage over revocation of the AFSPA and DAA. The NC leaders say that the PDP did not talk about the issue when it was in power, and the PDP blames the NC for creation of the SOG, saying that it was during the NC’s rule that the group came into existence creating several problems.