Matamgi Manipur

By Amar Yumnam , Source: Imphal Free Press The North East has come to engage the Indian psyche for sure. This is a very positive fall-out of the Prime Minister’s twin approach emphasising the need for enhancing the relationships with South-East and East Asia and the imperative for evolving a growth momentum for the region. This naturally has had both global and national implications. The neighbouring countries in South East and East Asia are already taking keen interest on the issues, potential and challenges facing the North East. Such an interest by a significant group of countries has naturally to have wider spill-overs. Now the European nations and the countries in North America have started taking more extensive interests in the region than ever before. The national implication is that the administration is hard-pressed to attend to the urgency.

by A Bimol Akoijam & Th Tarunkumar Originally published by the Manipur Research Forum ( www.manipurresearchforum.org ) in their journal Eastern Quarterly ( http://www.manipurresearchforum.org/index.php/pub/eastern-quarterly ) AFSPA reveals that it is an act of legitimizing the involvement of the military in the domestic space, and that it does not supplement but supplant the 'civil power'. Continous enforcement of AFSPA and deployment of troops under the Act convey the presence of the might of the Indian state to the people and is reminder of militarism that has subverted the democratic institutions. The three-month-long popular agitation (from July 11, 2004) in Manipur for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) sparked off by the death of a thirtytwo year-old woman, Thangjam Manorama, 'in custody', has highlighted in unambiguous terms the anti-democratic and oppressive character of the Act. While the agitation has f...