Why not to repeal? AFSPA

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=4_12_2006&ItemID=5&cat=10
Finally it has dawned on the Government of India that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA is not serving the purpose for which the draconian law was introduced. It is good to hear that it is considering some amendments to be made in the said act as was given out by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Imphal the other day. The draconian AFSPA has lead to more serious problems and complicating issues rather than doing any good to the country. Be it North-East or Jammu & Kashmir, the law has only added to the alienation of the people besides earning a bad name to the institution of Army. As the AFSPA affords sweeping powers to the armed forces its misuse and abuse is but natural. There would have been no necessity of bringing such a law had the government thought of the pitfalls in: first the use of such a harsh law against its own people and second the deploying armed forces to deal with insurgency. Unfortunately the Union Government has been trying to find military solutions to purely political problems which are more of its own creation than anybody else’s doing. The army’s think tank has been consistently counseling against the use of army for fighting insurgency as it exposes the troops to grave risk of losing proficiency and impairing their war preparedness. The deployment of armed forces on internal security assignment has had a disastrous effect on their psychology as is evident from the increasing incidence of fratricides, homicides and suicides. More disastrous consequences of this policy are that hapless unarmed civilians find themselves in open confrontation with the army. Given the situation, violation of human rights by armed forces is but a natural corollary to the policy. An army man trained to defend borders can not be expected to quell a riot or fight unrest in a population. He is apt to abuse and misuse the authority given to him under an act like AFSPA. He feels accountable to none and therefore prone to commit violation of basic rights. Political problems have to be dealt politically not by using force. During last more than fifty six years of insurgency in North-East or the sixteen years of turmoil in Jammu & Kashmir the Government of India has consistently tried to depend more on its armed forces in dealing with the unrest than using political means to resolve the issues. The results are there to be seen by everybody. The need to bridge the widening gap between the civilians and the armed forces has been felt in the top echelons of the army that is why we have civic action programmes like Op Sadbhavna. So far millions of rupees have been spent on such programmes, but, without any substantial results. The gains made in terms of goodwill earned one moment are frittered away only next with a serious violation committed by troops. And then the existence of a draconian law makes the situation more intractable as it offers total immunity to the troops against any legal action for their omissions and commissions committed during their counterinsurgency operations. The AFSPA has done more disservice to the country than helping it to overcome any problem. In Kashmir the act has been grossly misused and most of the human rights violations took place with the extension of the draconian laws to the state. Instead of making amendments in the AFSPA it would be prudent to repeal it as there are more than adequate laws available and in force that are required to deal with insurgency. The GoI would do a bigger service to the country by dispensing with the practice of using armed forces on internal security duties and better try political means to deal with political problems.