Round-up of regional news

INDIA

53 years of special powers

In late October, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958 (AFSPA) would be removed from certain areas of J & K 'within the next few days', putting the move down to a 'gradual improvement in the security situation and return to peace'. This would allow the J & K police to take over security responsibilities from the army – a longtime public demand. The announcement followed the submission of a report by a 'group of experts', appointed by New Delhi to study the controversial legislation, which suggested a phased removal of AFSPA from the Kashmir Valley. However, there was no immediate statement from the central government supporting the announcement, and the army commander based in Srinagar, Lieutenant General Syed Atta Hasnain, stated that no official decision had been made to remove AFSPA in any area.

Demands for a review or withdrawal of AFSPA have been made regularly in the past including across the expanse of the Subcontinent. In 2004, the brutal killing and rape of a woman named Manorama Devi led to public uproar and mass anti-AFSPA protests across Manipur. That incident prompted All Illustrations by Sworup Nhasiju New Delhi to form a committee to review the legislation; as a result, AFSPA was indeed withdrawn from certain areas of the capital Imphal, but remained in force elsewhere in Manipur as well as in the Northeast. Since then, no further action has been taken by the central government, including after requests from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, during her New Delhi visit in 2009.