The CPI on Friday demanded the immediate scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), saying there should be no delay in the name of seeking a consensus on the issue.
The party’s demand came a day after Home Minister P. Chidambaram said he was trying to evolve a consensus to revisit AFSPA but it needed “a consensus within the government before the amendments can be brought before Parliament”.
The CPI Central Secretariat said the Jeevan Reddy Commission, appointed by the government, has already recommended scrapping of the Act.
Demanding the immediate repeal of the “draconian law”, the party said it would also “enable Sharmila Irom to end her fast and lead a normal life”.
Noting that the issue of repealing the AFSPA has been “hanging fire for many years”, it said the Manipuri social activist “has been on fast for more than a decade raising this demand, particularly in the context of all the atrocities that have taken place in Manipur under the guise of this Act”.
Maintaining that the CPI has been raising this demand for all these years, it said the movement led by Anna Hazare and the identification of Sharmila with it has once again brought up this issue.
