Human rights abuses in Manipur | |
---|---|
Location | Manipur, India |
Date | 1980s - Ongoing |
Target | Civilians and combatants |
Perpetrators | Indian security forces Separatist insurgents |
Motive | Separatism, Military clampdown |
Human rights abuse is an ongoing insurgency in Manipur, a northeastern Indian state. The issue started in the 1960s due to a separatist conflict. The Indian army, paramilitary, and police personnel are responsible for killings and torture within Manipur. Human rights violations by Indian security forces are said to have fueled the armed opposition groups in Manipur. Insurgent groups have kidnapped children to train them as child soldiers against the Indian government. Manipur was declared a “disturbed area” by the Indian government in 1980 in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958. [1] [2]
The United Nations describes the 'Armed Forces Special Powers Act' as a colonial-era law that breaches contemporary international human rights standards. The UN asked the Indian government to revoke the act, saying it has no place in Indian democracy. [3] A number of UN treaty bodies have pronounced it to be in violation of international laws as well.
Northeastern India is geographically and ethnically distinct from the remainder of the country, and separatist activity in the region began as early as 1954. The Manipur Insurgency began in 1964, which claimed the lives of 2,253 civilians between 1992 and 2020. [4] Human Rights Watch has documented instances of arbitrary killings, torture, and rape by Indian security forces in the region. [5] Anti-terrorism laws in the state have shielded security forces from being prosecuted by local residents. [6] [7] [8]
Currently, 34 groups, including non-violent ones, demand independence from India. [9] In 1999, some of these groups coalesced into an alliance called the Manipur People's Liberation Front. Of these, the three most prominent are the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), and the PLA of Manipur. The UNLF is estimated to have 2,500 active members, the PREPAK 1,500, and the PLA 3,000. [9]
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 was passed on 11 September 1958 by the Parliament of India. The legislation grants special powers to the Indian armed forces in regions which the act refers to as “disturbed areas”
The act has been in force in all seven northeastern states of India, and is embroiled in a decades-old violent insurgency including Manipur, for over fifty years. According to human rights organization Redress , the Indian armed forces have abused power through privileges conferred in the act by using it as a manipulative tool to conduct "killings, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and enforced disappearances." [10]
The act's continued application in Manipur has led to local protests, having Irom Chanu Sharmila, as one of a Manipuri civil rights activist. Sharmila has been on a longstanding hunger strike since 2 November 2000 demanding the Indian government to repeal the act. She blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India's troubled northeast. [11] The situation demands the strong presence of armies, as police forces aren't able to maintain law and order. Hence, the Indian parliament is still looking for a proper opportunity to lift the Act. There was another incident of a Manipuri man who was shot by a soldier of Assam Rifles in 2021. It didn't receive any national attention. But local media did cover it. The case was closed and the Assam Rifles gave compensation to the family.[ citation needed ]
There have been repeated reports of insurgent groups in Manipur kidnapping children to bolster their ranks with child soldiers. [12] [13] [14] On 18 April 2012, for example, three teenage boys were kidnapped as they were watching a local football match.[ citation needed ]
The Manipur Alliance for Child Recruitment has denounced any kidnappings, stating "International Human Rights Law prohibits the recruitment of children below 18 years as child soldiers". [12]
Manipur is a state in northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanmar, Sagaing Region to the east and Chin State to the south. The state covers an area of 22,327 km2 (8,621 sq mi). The official and most widely spoken language is the Meitei language. Native to the Meitei people, it is also used as a lingua franca by smaller communities, who speak a variety of other Tibeto-Burman languages. Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. This exchange connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, regions in the Arctic, Micronesia and Polynesia enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.
Armed Forces Act (AFSPA), 1958 is an act of the Parliament of India that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in "disturbed areas". According to the Disturbed Areas Act, 1976 once declared 'disturbed', the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 3 months. One such act passed on 11 September 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam. In the following decades it spread, one by one, to the other Seven Sister States in India's northeast. Another one passed in 1983 and applicable to Punjab and Chandigarh was withdrawn in 1997, roughly 14 years after it came to force. An act passed in 1990 was applied to Jammu and Kashmir and has been in force since.
The Insurgency in Northeast India involves multiple separatist and jihadist militant groups operating in some of India's northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as 14.29 miles (23.00 km) wide.
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF), also known as the United National Liberation Front of Manipur, is a separatist insurgent group active in the state of Manipur in Northeast India which aims at establishing a sovereign and socialist Manipur.
The People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) is an armed insurgent group in Manipur demanding a separate and independent homeland. PREPAK was formed under the leadership of R. K. Tulachandra in 1977.
Irom Chanu Sharmila, also known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur" or "Mengoubi" is an Indian civil rights activist, political activist, and poet from the Indian state of Manipur, which is located on the north-eastern side of India. In November 2000, she began a hunger strike for abolishing the Armed Forces Act, 1958. After 16 years, she ended her fast in 2016, after being nasally force-fed for over 500 weeks in custody. Therefore, she has been viewed as the world's longest hunger striker. Amnesty International has declared her as a prisoner of conscience.
The People's Liberation Army of Manipur, often shortened to the People's Liberation Army, is a militant group fighting for the creation of an independent and socialist Manipur, a state in northeastern India.
Assam separatist movements refers to a series of multiple insurgent and separatist movements that had been operated in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. The conflict started in the 1970s following tension between the native indigenous Assamese people and the Indian government over alleged neglect, political, social, cultural, economic issues and increased levels of illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of 12,000 United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) militants and 18,000 others.
Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India. India is described as an ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e "Indestructible nation of destructible states" by its father of constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar where a state or Union territory of India cannot secede from India by any means and the Central Government has more powers than the respective state governments and can forcefully change the names and boundaries of the states without their permission at any time when needed for self interest and for the maintenance of integrity.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Human rights abuses in Assam have been compared to the situation of human rights abuses in other insurgency-affected areas of northeast India.
Human rights issues in northeast India have been widely reported in the press and by human rights activists. Northeast India refers to the north-easternmost region of India consisting of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura, as well as parts of northern West Bengal.
Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup is a Meitei insurgent group that operates in the state of Manipur in India. It was formed in January 1994 by a faction of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) led by Namoijam Oken in conjunction with splinter groups of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK). It is a secessionist organisation and banned by the Government of India. The group displays a strong ethnonationalist and nativist rhetoric in their announcements.
The Insurgency in Manipur is an ongoing armed conflict between India and a number of separatist rebel groups, taking place in the state of Manipur. The Insurgency in Manipur is part of the wider Insurgency in Northeast India; it displays elements of a national liberation war as well as an ethnic conflict.
Manipur: The Land of Tears is a 2014 television documentary film produced by News7 Tamil Channel, directed by Maga.Tamizh Prabhagaran young Indian journalist and filmmaker.
Meira Paibi is a women's social movement in the Indian state of Manipur. Referred to as the "guardians of civil society", Meira Paibi dates to 1977 in present Kakching district. It derives its name from the flaming torches which the women carry while marching through city streets, often at night. They do so both as a patrol, and in protest, seeking redress against human rights violations committed by paramilitary and armed forces units against the innocent. Contextualized, Meira Paibi was founded at a time when the people of Manipur were fighting for self-determination, political autonomy, and independence.
Jiribam District is a district at the western periphery state of Manipur, India. It borders the Cachar district of Assam on the west, and serves as the western gateway for Manipur. Formerly a subdivision of the Imphal East district, it was made an independent district in December 2016.
Rajkumar Meghen alias Sana Yaima is a Manipuri separatist politician and former chairman of United National Liberation Front.
Borobekra, also spelt Barabekra, is a village in the Jiribam district in Manipur, India, and the headquarters of an eponymous subdivision. It is about 30 km south of Jiribam, the headquarters of the district. The village is on the bank of the Barak River, near the confluence of a tributary that flows down from the Vangaitang range to the east. The Barak River flows north in this region, up to Jirimukh, where it turns northwest. The Barak River also forms the border with the Assam state of India.
Throughout the long-running separatist insurgencies in Northeast India, dozens of India-based insurgent groups have been involved in the neighboring conflict in Myanmar, both sheltering in Myanmar from the counterinsurgent Assam Rifles and participating in the conflict itself. Outside of several Indian-led operations, including Operation Golden Bird in 1995, Operation Hot Pursuit in 2015, or Operation Sunrise I and II in 2019, areas in which these insurgent groups are active have scarcely experienced fighting. Amid the escalation of civil war in Myanmar from 2021, several sources claim that the majority of Indian ethnic armed organisations (IEAOs) are allied, or have some level of understanding, with the ruling military junta of Myanmar, who allows them to maintain bases inside mountainous areas of northern Myanmar, typically in return for the IEAOs attacking anti-junta resistance groups.
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