Black Laws a punishment for no crime

Black Laws a punishment for no crime
Sheikh Yasir
The draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA), Public Safety Act (PSA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) enforced in Indian occupied Kashmir have given full impunity to the occupying forces to kill Kashmiris and destroy their properties. Under the shield of these laws, Indian troops are accountable to none for killing, torturing or keeping in custody any Kashmiri civilian.
The political leaders are not even allowed to carry on their political activities ,when the draconian PSA is slapped every now and then on whoever is held in custody. Under this act, a person can be detained for a period of two years without producing him in a court of law. India in order to show seriousness needs to repeal the black laws, release all the political detainees and disclose the whereabouts of thousands of disappeared Kashmiris.
India has tried for many times to hoodwink the international community by making false shows of its seriousness. The so-called roundtable conferences are one of those tricks. APHC leaders have boycotted such conferences convened by Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh on the valid ground that the agenda items of the conferences were related to the internal problems of the occupied territory and had nothing to do with the basic conflict. These leaders contend that they are ready to any talks but the exercise should be result-oriented to resolve the dispute once and for all.
While trying to embalm the bruises and lacerations inflicted on the soul and psyche of the people of Manipur, who were all fire against the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, following rape and murder of a woman allegedly by the Indian forces, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had last year announced his government's decision to soon modify the act ostensibly as part of the steps to address the grievances of the people.
Dr Singh is reported to have told in a public rally at Imphal that by modifying existing provisions, or inserting new provisions in AFSPA, it would be made more humane, giving due regards to the protection of basic human and civil rights. It is here in place to mention that this incident had forced the government of India to set up a committee to review the law, which gives sweeping powers to its forces to trample over the human rights with impunity and without ever having any fear of an adverse notice before a judicial forum. For six years, Irom Sharmila the iron lady of Manipur has been protesting the indefensible Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
This act that is less draconian in letter has been even more draconian in spirit. Since it was imposed, by official admission alone, more than 20,000 people have been killed in Manipur. Rather than curbing insurgent groups, it has engendered a seething resentment across the land, and fostered fierce militancy.
When the Act came into force in 1980, there were only four insurgent groups in Manipur. Today there are 25 on the Government's own watch-list. While as in Kashmir, despite a clear recede in the number of militant outfits nothing on ground has changed with respect to the rights violations by the troopers. Showering bullets on the innocent people, forced by the circumstances at home, to move outside their home during night, is no more a new phenomenon. Hundreds of innocents of this ill-fated valley have so for fell to the senseless firing of troopers during nights, even after having necessary lighting arrangement along with them.
Day in and day out, human rights organizations, international or otherwise, have been expressing their grave concern over the rights abuses perpetrated by the troopers in the state but despite assurances galore and more particularly Prime minister Manmohan Singh's "zero tolerance" clamors the situation with respect to rights abuses has worsened to such a level that people have started to treat the scenario as a part of their routine life.
Taking of zero tolerance quite volubly and uttering words of sympathy time and again, is all the power pundits at the state as well as central level could do at best to play prank with the traumatized masses as none of them has ever witnessed the pain and trauma that an ordinary person of this area is put to undergo because of these black laws. Besides national as well as international level human rights organizations have also been fervently antagonizing imposition of these barbaric laws from the very beginning. Going by the reports, just in few previous weeks near about a dozen of people irrespective of age, sex and status have been killed by the troopers across valley with total impunity. Ironically, half a dozen innocents were relieved of their right to live all around the human rights day.
Incidentally, the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly during the past 19years, has been worse as compared to all other regions of India. Ghastly incidents could make any government worth its name hang its head in shame. But, there is no let up in the atrocities being heaped particularly on the innocent civilian population in the strife torn region in the name of anti-militancy operations. The move to humanize the draconian laws like the AFSPA or, may be the notorious Disturbed Areas Act, may, in all likelihood, prove of no avail what-so-ever. Primarily because these seek to immunize the armed forces against legal action in the event of any criminal act like illegal detention, abduction, rape, custodial torture or killing and the like the region has been witness to on a massive scale over the years.
Even the magisterial and judicial investigations the government ordered in countless cases have failed to bring the perpetrators to justice like in the infamous Pathribal killings. Obviously, there can be no human rights as long as the draconian laws remain in force. Instead of feigning to "humanize" the laws, the least the government should do is to repeal them out rightly; India needs to show its sincerity just by doing away with these barbaric laws that have been spelling sleepless nights and restless days to the common men in occupied Kashmir.