UNHRC briefed on Manipur crisis, AFSPA

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 16: Human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam has briefed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the Manipur crisis and the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
At Geneva yesterday, Babloo Loitongbam said Manipur has been "consumed by unending cycles of violence" with at least 230 reported deaths, and the Government of India is "systematically abdicating its responsibility to protect the population".
He sought the UN Human Rights Council to formulate an appropriate recommendation in line with State obligation under the Covenant in conformity with the principles of international law to address the humanitarian crisis and the larger violent crisis.
The Human Rights Committee is composed of 18 independent experts drawn from different countries.
When Babloo addressed the committee, members of an Indian delegation led by Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were present.
Babloo, representing Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) touched two core issues facing Manipur and the North-East region--the conflict in Manipur since May 3, 2023 and the AFSPA 1958, a controversial law that gives sweeping power to armed forces to  search, arrest and open fire on any person.
Manipur crisis
Since May 3, 2023, Manipur has been consumed by unending cycles of violence, with at least 230 reported deaths and counting, said Babloo Loitongbam.
As many as 13,247 infrastructure, including residential homes and places of worship, have been gutted and destroyed leaving 60,000 displaced people to be interned in cramped relief camps without adequate aid and life support systems, he said.
When the Central Government announced the  "direct handling of law and order in Manipur", and appointed a Security Advisor from May 4, 2023, huge numbers of security forces were deployed in the State bringing hope that the violence would be contained.
"Instead, this gave violence a new lease of life as armed militant groups, under SoO (Suspension of Operation) or outside of this arrangement, utilized the opportunity to don the role of the saviour of their respective ethnic communities," Babloo said, hinting that the armed militants were fuelling the violence.
He further told the UNHRC that the "indifference" of the armed forces has "increased" the death toll of civilians, and the cycles of raids and counter raids against the civilian population.
What has been happening in Manipur is a violation of all human rights and humanitarian norms, he said.
He said, "The ensuing climate of ethnic hatred accompanied by the ghettoization of the warring communities in their areas of dominance, has practically snapped all ties of coexistence."
In the meantime, the Government of India along with the Government of Manipur, continue to promote an end to the violence, the reconciliation between warring ethnic communities, and restoration of normalcy, while taking no visible measures to stop the violent conflict or to heal festering wounds, he said.
Babloo said, individual citizens of Manipur-- irrespective of gender, age, religion or ethnicity--have been robbed of their most basic human rights, as the Government of India systematically abdicated its responsibility to protect the population.
He then requested the UNHRC to formulate an appropriate recommendation in line with the State obligation under the Covenant in conformity with the relevant principles of international law.
AFSPA 1958
On the issue of the controversial and "draconian" Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Bobloo said July 15 is observed in Manipur as Anti-Repression Day, and on this day 20 years ago, 12 mothers of Manipur staged a unique naked protest in front of the Kangla  fort, the old Palace Compound of the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur which was then under the occupation of the Assam Rifles.
Babloo said the 12 mothers were protesting the rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama by the Assam Rifles personnel.
He added the widespread protests that dragged on for months subsided only after then Prime Minister Dr Manamohan Singh promised that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act  (AFSPA) “…will be replaced by a more humane Act”.
Babloo said the AFSPA was closely scrutinized during the 2nd and 3rd periodic review of India by the UNHRC, however, the Supreme Court of India upheld its Constitutionality in 1997.
He said the Court ignored the request of the UNHRC to examine the Covenant compatibility of the AFSPA.
Babloo quoted Prof Christof Heyns' observation on the Supreme Court's ruling.
Prof Christof Heyns was a former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Babloo said Prof Christof Heyns observed that “…he is unclear about how the Supreme Court reached such a conclusion… …the powers granted under AFSPA are in reality broader than that allowable under the state of emergency as the right to life may effectively be suspended under the Act and the safeguards applicable in a State of emergency are absent.”
Babloo then rejected a statement in the official report that said India has accorded sanction for prosecution [against armed forces personnel].
"In paragraph 83 of the present official report, it states that “In genuine instances the  Government of India has accorded sanction for prosecution”. This is simply not true...," Babloo said.
He said the EEVFAM and the HRA had petitioned to the Supreme Court of India seeking justice for a massive 1,528 cases of "extrajudicial executions".
Babloo said in all of the cases involving armed forces of the Union of India, the Central Government has denied prosecution sanctions under Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
Even when clear prosecutable evidence was laid out by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the premier investigating agency, the Union Home Ministry has always denied prosecution sanctions, Babloo said, seeking the attention of the committee on eight cases EEVFAM and HRA have listed in their report.
He urged the UNHRC to pronounce the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as incompatible with the Covenant both in law as well as in practice.