Just as I am drowning in my food fantasies, a corner of my mind bleeds with guilt.
4th November, 2010 marked the 10th anniversary of one the nation’s longest and most peaceful struggles for human rights. Irom Sharmila has been fasting for 10 years now, fighting for the rights of her Indian brothers to live.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (its that old, they have been suffering in this war like state for more than 50 years now!) has been criticized by the United Nations as well various human rights’ organizations all over the country. Navanethem Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described the Act as “dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards”. Honestly, I don’t see why such a law should have existed in any era, let alone in this day and age. If you just glance at the ‘freedom’ and impunity these laws grant the authorities, you should be shaken to the very core of your soul, if you are still human. This one in particular, makes absolutely no sense at all:
To arrest without a warrant and with the use of "necessary" force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is suspected of having done so.
“OR IS SUSPECTED OF HAVING DONE SO”
Take a moment to let that meaning sink in. The ‘necessary force’ spoken of usually ends with the death (an excruciatingly painful death) of the ‘suspects’ in question. Would these laws be tolerated in a city as broadminded and advanced as Mumbai or Delhi or Calcutta or Hyderabad? Why Manipur? What sin so great did that state and its people commit to be tortured and murdered at the whim of an authority? Suppressing insurgency doesn't even begin to make a decent argument anymore. The more fuel the authorities add to the fire, the stronger the insurgent groups grow.
All this blood, to keep the North Indian states from separating from India. Is this our idea of democracy? How the government and the army plan to prevent the secession of the North Indian states of India by inflicting torture and depriving them of their right to life, is beyond me. Just as Kashmir rose against the injustice they have suffered thanks to the AFSPA, (yes the ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT can claim a good deal of responsibility if Kashmir packs its bags and leaves) Manipur is not far behind. Our country crumbles under senseless, brutal laws while the government and the “authorities” pretend that “all is well”. The very fact that the 10th Anniversary of Irom Sharmila’s fast barely got any media attention is proof enough of the government’s desperation to sweep these murders under the rug.
Today, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is nowhere close to the limelight since the “authorities” have a stronghold on the media, but there will come a day when someone braver than us bloggers will ask you to support their fight against atrocities this act has forgiven over decades. It may be a poll or a march or a silent protest or it might be a not-so-gentle reminder to the government that ‘we Indians feel the pain of our brothers and sisters’. What will you do? Sink back into your comfortable world of small worries or rise to support your fellow brethren and save our country from splintering to fragments, one state at a time?
Its upto you, just bother to do a little research first, if you don’t wish to blindly agree with that last rhetorical question.
