Armed forces and fake encounters

The Supreme Court’s rejection of a petition made by several hundred Army personnel challenging the lodging of FIRs against them in connection with fake encounters and extra-judicial killings in the North-eastern Region and Jammu and Kashmir should generate a nationwide debate and discussion on how a large number of innocent persons - including women – have lost their lives just because Army personnel thought they were given sweeping powers under provisions of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. While Army officers and even the Attorney General reportedly prayed for a court order dismissing the scope of lodging FIRs against them because they were working in ‘difficult situations’ and because the AFSPA gave them powers to act in a particular manner, the Supreme Court has rightfully rejected this. The apex court had through judgments passed on July 8, 2016 and July 14, 2017 ordered filing of FIRs in about 100 of the 1528 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings by the armed forces between 1985 and 2010 in Manipur alone.

People across the Northeast know, and many have directly experienced how armed forces personnel have misused powers given to them under provisions of the AFSPA. Officers of the armed forces are also known to have received awards, medals and promotions for their ‘bravery’ and ‘patriotism’ displayed through killing innocent people including, and also raping numerous women and girls. This had happened in Nagaland, in Manipur, in Mizoram and Assam, and it was only recently that three officers and four JCOs of the Army were awarded life imprisonment for the killing of five youth in a fake encounter in Tinsukia district of Assam 24 years ago. The army had actually picked up the nine youth, one of them an office-bearer of the district AASU unit, from their respective homes, bodies of five of whom were later dumped in a local hospital by the army, saying they were killed in an encounter. While then AASU vice-president Jagadish Bhuyan – who later served two terms as MLA and also as a minister – kept fighting for justice, a court martial order a few weeks ago finally awarded the verdict, which not only brought curtains down on a gruesome murder committed by a group of Army personnel in the name of countering insurgency, but also put on record how Army personnel misuse their powers against their own fellow countrymen just for a medal and a promotion.

In the instant case, Supreme Court Judge Madan B Lokur has come down heavily on the Army personnel as well as the government, also asked the latter to find out a mechanism to strike a balance between operations against extremists and protecting rights of innocent people. The Army officers had, through their advocates, tried to influence the apex court by suggesting that the country should refrain from suspecting or doubting the patriotism of its soldiers. What they did not tell the court is about how they treat innocent people caught between insurgents and the armed forces, about how houses are searched without the presence of a magistrate or even a gaon-burra, how women and girls are molested and raped in the name of search, how valuables belonging to people go missing during such searches and raids, how Army personnel from the 3 Corps headquarters at Rangapara were found involved in dacoity in a contractors house in Jorhat in 2011, and so on. There are also instances of involvement of Army officers in sale and purchase of illegal arms and ammunition, of dealing with drugs and so on; an Army PRO based in Imphal was caught red-handed while smuggling drugs worth Rs 24 crore in 2013. A section of Army personnel is no less brutal and inhuman than the likes of Paresh Barua, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia and Company, who too are responsible for the killing of hundreds of innocent people in the name, looting crores of rupees through extortion, ruining hundreds of families across Assam by luring young boys to the jungles.

Saying No to tobacco

Tobacco use, whether by way of smoking or chewing with tamul-paan or khaini, has been alarmingly in Assam. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey – GATS-2 – had earlier this year revealed that 25.3 per cent of men, 0.8 per cent of women and 13.3 per cent of all adults across Assam smoke tobacco as cigarette and bidi. But when it comes to consumption of smokeless tobacco – as khaini, and with tamul-paan and zarda-paan, the picture even more alarming; 50.5 per cent of men and 32.5 per cent of women in Assam consume smokeless tobacco, with the total figures saying 41.7 per cent of all adults in the state use smokeless tobacco. Putting the two sets of figures together, it has been found that 62.9 per cent of men and 32.9 per cent of women in Assam either smoke tobacco or consume it the smokeless way. Consumption of tobacco in any form is directly related to the overall health status of the state – and to the overall prevalence of cancer. There is no denying the fact that most cancer patients in Assam, and for that matter across the North-eastern Region, are tobacco-users. The GATS-2 has shown that in Assam, young people get initiated into smoking tobacco at around 18. This is the time they enter college. Even a glance at areas close to colleges and higher secondary schools in Assam will show that a sizeable section of young people, particularly boys, are smoking. What is even more alarming is that some girl students too are seen smoking. A section of teachers – those who are supposed to be role models and mentors for young students – too are seen smoking; this must be condemned. Likewise, there are people who feel offended when not offered tamul-paan accompanied by tobacco. While laws like Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 – COTPA – must be enforced very strictly, the government, the education department, the school and college authorities, student bodies, teachers associations, and other NGOs must also play a very proactive role in curbing the tobacco menace. Tobacco is said to be one of the most evident of all the retrograde influences of our time.