Something is not right. What has his life got to do with the improvement in the law and order situation in the state? One could have said Okram Ibobi Singh had a point if he had offered to resign from office instead of sacrificing his life. When we talk about law and order, it should not only be of problems caused by either armed miscreants or non-state actors as it also involves the manner in which state actors are putting in their efforts towards maintenance of law and order or how they are dealing with insurgency in the state. First, the prolonged and ‘undeclared state of emergency’ with the enforcement of Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) where the armed forces kill and maim at will, of course with impunity. Two UN Special Rapporteurs have called for its repeal in recent past. The first was UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Margaret Sekaggya. The second was UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Christof Heyns. In the preliminary report following his visit to the country Heyns has said, AFSPA has no place in a democracy and it should be scrapped. He had also said that AFSPA in effect allows the state to override rights in the disturbed areas in a much more intrusive way than would be the case under a state of emergency, since the right to life is in effect suspended, and this is done without the safeguards applicable to states of emergency. The Special Rapporteur has also expressed surprise at the 1997 ruling of the Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of AFSPA. He had said that it is difficult to understand how the Supreme Court which has been so progressive in other areas, also concerning right to life could have ruled in 1997 in favour of AFSPA although qualified by dos and don’ts. The UN Special Rapporteur had in effect validated the reports of human rights activist from the region and the call for the appeal of AFSPA by the people of Manipur including Gwangju Awardee Irom Sharmila. Special Rapporteurs are in fact eyes and ears of the UN Human Rights Council. Although, the final report of Christof Heyns is slated for 2013 the preliminary report had put the Indian government in an embrassing situation. We all know that few perpetrators of these gross violations of human rights ever got indicted or prosecuted. A Hindu report had said that in the past four years alone, the Union home ministry rejected at least 42 requests to sanction the prosecution of military personnel found by the police to have engaged in crimes such as murder, homicide and rape in Kashmir. This sense of not having to answer for their actions have percolated down to the state forces also as seen in the numerous fake encounters including the Khwairamband Bazar incident of July 23, 2009. Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh is blaming the presence of a number of armed groups for the present law and order problem, while forgetting the fact that the prolonged imposition of AFSPA in the state has further aggravated the problem and has led to quantum jump in the number of rag tag groups several of them sponsored by the agencies of the state and politicians. The situation is such that, a factional leader lodged inside the jail could orchestrate criminal activities outside the jail by floating several new outfits. Point is Chief Minister Okram Ibobi should first ponder upon the manner in which state actors are dealing with insurgency and how special laws have worsened the situation. While speaking to a local daily, he has said that he would not hesitate to sacrifice his own life for betterment of the State’s law and order situation, if required. It is rather strange. Nobody asked him to sacrifice his life. Yes, there were demands for his resignation in 2004 in the height of agitation seeking for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and again in 2009 in the wake of the July 23 Khwairamband Bazar fake encounter when he lauded the police commandos who killed a pregnant woman and a former militant in broad daylight, the staged manner of which was exposed by the Tehelka magazine. And now he has the cheek to threaten the re-imposition of AFSPA in the Imphal Municipal Area. However belated, he can still resign.
