Chief Minister and leader of the National People’s Party (NPP), Conrad Sangma, hit out against the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act most vociferously today at the NPP’s youth front conclave in Manipur.
This comes in the wake of the Oting Massacre of December 4, in which several civilians were shot dead by the military in Nagaland. Further violence, and deaths, followed the incident.
Speaking at the opening of the National People’s Youth Front conclave in Imphal, Sangma said, “Force and violence only make things worse. Force can only be used according to humanitarian norms. Some youths may have strayed but even they are still Indians. They are still our citizens.”
The party leaders on the dais later held up a banner plastered with the words, “Repeal AFSPA from the entire North East”.
AFSPA, which applies in many areas of the North East and Jammu and Kashmir, is overkill and harms democracy, the NPP leader said at the event.
“This is not a war. This is a problem that we face in our nation. By using the armed forces you are making it a war. As a government we need to be sensitive. We need to realise that we cannot achieve our goals by force. Yes, we may have to fight in certain circumstances but AFSPA is not the solution,” he stated, adding that only socio-economic development is the answer.
He also celebrated the fact that, under the NPP, AFSPA was removed from Meghalaya, where it had only applied to border areas.
“These kinds of policies and these kinds of laws are only making things worse,” Sangma said. “After our government came to power (in 2018), we put pressure on the Centre to remove AFSPA and, within months, it was repealed from the state. As a party we want to ensure that these kinds of draconian acts are no longer there. There is no space for them.”
