International Women's Day AFSPA is not a law but a war machine, alleges CorCom

IMPHAL, Mar 7
While acknowledging the roles of women throughout history in cultural, social, economic and political aspects of human society, the CorCom  has greeted all the womenfolk of Manipur on the International Women’s Day which would be observed throughout the world on the theme “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world” tomorrow.
The genesis of the International Women’s Day can be traced to the sustained struggle for entitling women to equal economic and political rights as entitled to men, according to a statement issued by the CorCom  Publicity Committee.
Apart from protesting against the First World War, Russian women took out a protest rally on March 8, 1917 demanding bread and peace. Four days later, the Russian Czar abdicated his throne and the interim Government gave Russian women right to vote.
In the following years, March 8 gained more prominence as the International Women’s Day and more and more countries started observing the International Women’s Day.
However, it was only in 1975 that the United Nations declared March 8 as the International Women’s Day.
Since 1970s most feminists started realising the general perspectives and social norms rooted in patriarchal societies.
Yet, women's common objectives have not been fully achieved even today. There are still many work places where women workers are paid lesser than their male counterparts, the CorCom remarked.
It said that women have not been given their rightful places in economic activities as well as political affairs. Women are still lagging behind their male counterparts in terms of education and health care, and they have been suffering more.
Even though Manipur (Kangleipak) has a long history of giving high status to women, suppression and violence against women have been rising at an alarming rate since Manipur was taken into the cultural and political domain of India, it said.
Such a situation is an outcome of the dominant perspective of patriarchal societies where women are treated as inferior to men. Manipuri women have been subjected to an inferior position as a result of the merger of Manipur into the communal polity of India, it alleged.    
This is an offshoot of the communal social structure of India and the general tendency to suppress women and undermine achievements and capacities of women.
Systematic suppression of women as seen in several parts of India in the form of rape, gang-rape, murder and different forms of violence was something unheard of before Manipur was taken into the political and cultural domain of India, it claimed.
When Manipur was an independent country, women were given respectable position and they also enjoyed complete freedom to participate in all economic and political activities.
However, after the alleged forceful merger of Manipur into the Indian Union, AFSPA became a tool for outraging the modesty of many women in the State.
There is not a single place in any part of WESEA which are traumatised by AFSPA where security personnel have not raped women. In Manipur alone, sexual crimes committed by security personnel are countless but none of the culprits have been awarded any befitting punishment, it alleged.
There is no place for Manipuri women to protect their modesty and live with dignity. AFSPA is not a law but a war machine, it asserted.
The CorCom said that the trauma and the alleged sexual terrorism faced by Manipuri women cannot be  prevented until the alien rule is overthrown.
At the same time, as the dependent economy cannot provide social security, many women in search of livelihood have taken to flesh trade thereby causing serious damages to the society and its civilisation, it continued.
The CorCom then asserted that the only means to correct all these maladies is to restore the lost sovereignty of Manipur.