Manipur rights bodies hail AFSPA changes

Imphal: The Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families’ Association, Manipur (

EEVFAM

) and Human Rights Alert (

HRA

) have welcomed the partial lifting of disturbed area status under the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from various parts of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, terming it as a “step in the right direction”.The two bodies suggested to the Centre that the “next logical step would be to grant prosecution sanction of the security personnel found to be involved in the ‘extrajudicial killings’ of civilians”. Following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed jointly by EEVFAM and HRA seeking a probe into the alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings by the state police and central forces in Manipur from 1979 to 2012 “under the shadow of AFSPA”, the Supreme Court had in July 2017 asked the CBI to investigate the cases. tnn