By: Anirban Paul.
In over sixty years of independence, six decades have spelt out a series of changes – some for the betterment and some for the worst of 'India'. Taking a step back, much of the problems arise and exist from the pre-independence era which, being caught in the vicious web of political venality and despotism, have become more complex and have increased manifold. Much of the problems and issues are harbored in locations that are isolated by the tangled system of information miscommunication or information lapse and are subjects which are kept under confidential documents being termed as sensitive and are hardly or never brought to the public domain. |
| Nationalism is one of the tools that governments use to mobilize sentiments and to drive political propaganda forwards. |
Today we harbor a similar asylum called Heaven on Earth - Kashmir. Amidst currents of neo-liberalism and Hindu “nationalism” in the country, Kashmir has fallen suppressed under the weight of constant tension arising from both sides of the border.
Categorically, information regarding Kashmir can be divided into three parts - what is actually happening in Kashmir, what the people are told is happening in Kashmir and what the rest of the world knows is happening.
People live on the amorphous edges of a society saturated in violence, where militants, police, government servants, businessmen and journalists too encounter each other and become each other eventually. Each time a terrorrist strikes, radical fanatics like the VHP blame it not a few but on an entire religion and community. The government blames it on Indian Mujahidin and groups like Al-Qaeda and land up with a debate on peace relations with Pakistan and the control of terrorism. Ultimately what happens is that the issue starts fading somewhere in this blame game.
People live in a reign of terror, whereby most suffer from an identity crisis and even furthermore, a perpetual self-inquisition regarding life and death. Where a person may go out of his house any day but may never return back alive, today Kashmir has innumerable unreported cases of violence and deaths. People are living in a state of long-lasting war which is difficult to answer as to when it will end.
Categorically, information regarding Kashmir can be divided into three parts - what is actually happening in Kashmir, what the people are told is happening in Kashmir and what the rest of the world knows is happening.
People live on the amorphous edges of a society saturated in violence, where militants, police, government servants, businessmen and journalists too encounter each other and become each other eventually. Each time a terrorrist strikes, radical fanatics like the VHP blame it not a few but on an entire religion and community. The government blames it on Indian Mujahidin and groups like Al-Qaeda and land up with a debate on peace relations with Pakistan and the control of terrorism. Ultimately what happens is that the issue starts fading somewhere in this blame game.
People live in a reign of terror, whereby most suffer from an identity crisis and even furthermore, a perpetual self-inquisition regarding life and death. Where a person may go out of his house any day but may never return back alive, today Kashmir has innumerable unreported cases of violence and deaths. People are living in a state of long-lasting war which is difficult to answer as to when it will end.
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| Nationalism often portrays loss and suffering as collateral damage if it is unable to blind the 'patriots'. |
Blame games in the name of prevention of terrorism is not a new feature in India. When the political heads come to improper conclusions they introduce drastic measures such as the Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). It serves as a much easier platform for the introduction of such acts because the general public is already blinded by phrases such as “for the nation” and “in the national interest” which sounds nationalistic up to a point of time but when the reality subsides to the background, again a case of information lapse, much of the people are unaware of the heinous nature of these acts which are introduced with improper analysis and just for the sake of upholding a political agenda.
Taking in particular the AFSPA, in the name of insurgency - type and nature of which the government has never brought to public domain, the armed forces have been made men with a license to kill and brutalize. Manipur has witnessed such inhumane cases where today reporting a case of rape would be equivalent to reporting a case of minor theft in some other part of the country. It has become a routine to not witness one or two rapes but rapes in the measure of a scale where people have lost count now and justice does not call for a proper legal procedure because of the installation of the act in the region.
We live in a nation which has governance in the form of ruled democracy, where people today elect their king and his ministers for a regime of five years. Ultimately once the government is in place, Lincoln-like terms such as “a government of the people, for the people, and by the people” becomes a mere facet of irony. The government may definitely fall under Lincoln’s definition, but what a government of the people reaps, what a government does for the people and when does a government stand by the people is yet to be seen.
As universal adult franchisees, we can only use the power to exercise our vote to elect some party which maybe the better option but definitely not the best. Hogging votes is an easy affair in India, where one and his party must have a heavy pocket, some good oratory skills and a cliché set of never-to-be-fulfilled promises. One of my friends told me not to criticize the government but to help the government to function better – a very noble thing to say on his part. It did immediately remind me of many other “kings” who use this same statement against journalists for digging out actualities and truth and brings necessary information to the public domain and “not helping the government.”
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| Government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Why then, does it need barbed wires so often? Photo: Gallo/Getty. |
How far do we go from here, is a question many will ask. How do we overcome such problems, has even more complexity of finding a solution. But, as long as people keep their moral conscience alive to differentiate between the just and the unjust, continuing to voice their opinions against what is right and what is wrong, all that can be said is there is still hope.
Time is less; change is upon us, gory or progressive are the options.
My knowledge begins and ends with Irom Sharmila Chanu and Manipur. So first you misunderstand the problems of Manipur. It is not a question of the AFSPA merely creating an armed forces licensed to kill and brutalize as you claim. And claiming that because it is not true means you preach only to the converted and you do not generate real debate on how India should be governed and how law and order can be maintained. I spent 77 days in Sajwa Jail standing up for Sharmila. You won't find a journalist who published that because scribes collaborate with those in power. Sure there was a bit of torture and prison wasn't nice. But I will need to return to protect Sharmila as no one else does. You people won't even report her cause a right. So I am gathering political support. preparing to return more visible, once the authorities in Delhi take an interest, the gangsters in Manipur back down continued...
ReplyDeleteSharmila has campaigned purely for the removal of the AFSPA. In this she has the backing of every judicial inquiry that has looked into the matter. For some reason locals are resurrecting the Jeevan Reddy Commission of 2006 but there have been several others since then all ignored. If the people of Manipur refuse to remove this one law and they did from Imphal so one family could cash in then there is no point in their trying to run before they can walk. For my part as a foreigner I have the utmost respect for the Indian Military. I automatically feel safer in the presence of uniformed soldiers from regular units of the Indian Army. That's because I am a foreigner and these soldiers have a chain of command and no it is not the policy of the Indian Government to target foreigners for punishment beatings rape or murder. I hope you and I can agree on some basic facts. However if I were a local I guess I would not feel so safe. continued
DeleteFrom everyone though in Imphal and that's where I stayed from November 2014 till March 2015 (my fifth visit to Manipur) where the AFSPA does not apply. I repeat that for you. The AFSPA does not apply in Imphal. You can research how and why and when it was removed if you are a scribe. If I can find out so can you. So there the problem is local corruption. The rates of bribe to become a police officer used to posted on a self-proclaimed human rights NGO which was run by the same family that ran the Manipur Police. The husband and wife team were both nephew and niece of the man who retired as DG Manipur Police. Their close family friend established the illegal isolation order placed upon Sharmila in 2005 all documented very easy to discover if only there were a journalist interested. Most of the rapes beatings and disappearances and they aren't as common as you claim. Over the last few years the disappearances have dropped dramatically from over 500 per year to single figures last year. The general ambience of violence is high. I was beaten up several times in courthouses. The first time was to intimidate a low level judge into colluding with the last attempt to have Sharmila killed. The last time was just to ensure that I signed off on another set of false statements by the judge who had ordered my illegal detention. Sure there is an investigation under way or there was with the Ministry of External Affairs. But just as your friends say work with the Government not against them. The Centre tends to work with whichever corrupt administration runs these local hick states. They don't cost that much to mismanage if you take on board the entire budget of the republic. It could be done. But if you tackle rampant corruption and the violence it engenders in Manipur. Where will it end. I would argue that laws like the AFSPA created a feeling of zero-accountability. And that has jumped from the military like one of those viruses we were told were species specific and could never affect us. Now every aspect of governance in Manipur is lawless, has zero accountability. Sure people are afraid but that would include the judiciary and any honest government officials. If you were stupid enough to stand up for an innocent they'd turn on you. I think you are part of the problem. You are talking about Irom Sharmila when you have never met her. If you do research on her you will read the texts of internet groups or their gangster sponsors in Manipur whose primary aim for now is to secure her death. You are going to get annoyed that I haven't given you sufficient details about myself. My name is Desmond Coutinho, 2 Abbey Court, Portumna, Co Galway. If you wish to contact Sharmila you can write to Irom Sharmila Chanu, Human Rights Defender, Security Ward, Jawaharlal Nehru I M S, Porompat, Imphal East, Manipur 795005. She is due to make her final appearance at trial at the Delhi Patiala Court. Again most of what is written about her article 10 right to trial is just a rehash of press handouts given to lazy colluding scribes who don't want to rock the boat. Delhi is her last chance to get a wider audience than the ten people who read internet blog pages. I don't know whether you will respond by finding out actual facts visiting Sharmila at the JNIMS or in Delhi if she is sent by the GoM and the HRLN lawyers who also work for the Manipuri Government actually try to gather Celebs to speak as character witnesses in the last two days of her trial or do anything other than collude with the GoM if they decide not to bother to send her to trial in June. I think it's the 16th presentation of a production warrant by the Judge she was presented 3 times. The AFSPA and its lack of accountability has spread. Will you bother to find out the truth. Because you cannot be so naive to accuse me of being an international sex spy sent by whoever to do whatever. And that is the best the Manipuri press can come up with. I am the only one speaking for her who is prepared to pay the price for that.
DeleteThank you for responding. I am in consensus with you regarding the cause of Irom Sharmila in her venture to tackle the AFSPA which has lasted over a decade now. We need to remember two points here about AFSPA and the place where it all began — Nagaland, in 1958. Nagaland today is peaceful. It is not free of intimidation, extortion or factional killings, but not a single Indian solider has fallen in combat here for the past five years. The State government has been asking, since 2005, for the removal of the Disturbed Areas Act. The Government of India refuses to listen.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the anomaly then? Is it the prejudice of the civilian government which implemented the act in the facade of goodwill and is now hesitant to call the men home? Brutalities committed udner the name of AFSPA goes unanswered, without even a fair trial. There was a reported case where a bullet was found in the genitals of a dead girl, the only explanation being that she was "suspected" of being an insurgent. Fifty-six years is a long time to have a law as revoltingly brutal and obscure as AFSPA. Now, both sides are stuck. The army says it is like its “Bible” and that if the Act is removed it will face the prospect of fighting “with one hand tied.” The central government says that it can’t persuade the Army to back down.
There are regions in India which have loud problems of insurgency, it is not only the so called "disturbed areas". When the Jeevan Reddy report was brought out it clearly wanted to repeal this Act, something which the people of the region have been protesting in favour of for years, including the undying efforts of Irom Sharmila. The report was not even debated upon in the Parliament. It is a matter of shame for the nation now, how Irom Sharmila has been framed under such petty charges of attempting to commit suicide and being repeatedly called for trial. I believe the government would have done a better job if, instead of bringing out such paltry charges, tried to look into her cause of protest. What was the necessity of the Act back then, and what is the relevance of the Act now, has clearly gone out of picture and proportion. Even if the rate of brutalities may have gone down now, it is not nil.
Army men have been installed in the "disturbed areas" for protection not devastation. What is the need of the act in this hour, if not for spreading fear, is highly questionable. Till what extent the government will go to suppress Irom Sharmila because she has stood up for the greater cause of the masses, is yet to be seen. Her voice needs to be brought out to the national public domain and a message must be spread on an even wider domain which may help people to understand her cause.
I am obliged at your response, which shows that people are taking into consideration major issues and it is not escaping unnoticed. I have my support with Irom Sharmila and many others who are fighting alongside her for a common cause. I am yet to check up on AFSPA in Imphal, i will do that soon. Thank you.
Disturbed Area Status was withdrawn from Imphal so AFSPA left. There is a lot of hypocrisy over AFSPA. I doubt the MLAs of Nagaland care any more about their people than those of Manipur. So why was it removed from Imphal and only from Imphal? I don't know much about Kashmir. But I assume your new Muslim CM did a deal for power. He'd drop removal of AFSPA if he could be CM. Or in parliamentary language he'd agree to setting up another commission to review the AFSPA there. It's an odd law. You end by some vague statement saying you have your support with Irom Sharmila. I assume that it's safe to say you have never met her, never corresponded with her and she has no idea who you are because she doesn't have internet access. Many others fighting alongside her. I know those alongside her plot her death. So it's doubly clear what you know about Sharmila is probably as much as I know about J&K. Let me know when you've worked out how to use google and have checked up on AFSPA in Imphal. It isn't there. The Centre didn't stop the Manipur Government from removing AFSPA I doubt they'd get in the way of Nagaland either. But what's in it for those who remove it. This is the northeast it's all about money.
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