New Delhi, June 14: The Army has said that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is a holy book for the forces deployed in militancy-hit states.
“I would like to say that the provisions of AFSPA are very pious to me and I think to the entire Indian Army. We have religious books, there are certain guidelines which are given there, but all the members of the religion do not follow it, they break it also, does it imply that you remove the religious book or you remove this chap. My take on it is to find someone guilty, take him to task, but don’t touch this pious document or provision of AFSPA giving the similarity to religious book,” Army’s Northern Command chief Lt Gen BS Jaswal told a Delhi-based news channel.
Gen Jaswal’s strong defence of the Act is in keeping with the Army’s stand that it cannot operate without it in Jammu and Kashmir or in the Northeast. Army argues that without AFSPA it will be unable to launch proactive operations and will not be able to use force except in self-defence.
On complaints of human rights violations, the Army says that majority of rights abuse cases are found to be false and those found true have been severely dealt with.
In its detailed reasoning to the government, the Army has said the AFSPA does not put the soldier above the law, but places him under a different set of laws because he operates in different circumstances.
“Sorry for saying this, lot of clichés get used in describing the Army, circumstances under which Army functions is not known to people, that’s why I said if we want to feel the heat let be there. To say that he is jury at that stage and he is the hangman, that Jawan, I think we are stretching things a bit too far,” said Lt Gen BS Jaswal.
Army is refusing to play ball with human rights activists amidst rising clamour to dilute or altogether scarp the contentious Act.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST