File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9711, message 10


From: "Siddharth Chatterjee" <siddhart-AT-mailbox.syr.edu>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 21:34:46 +0000
Subject: M-G: Indian State Terrorism



Attached is further proof of the terrorisim and arbritrariness of the
criminal "justice" system. Capital is preparing for the long haul.
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"BLACK LAWS" HAVE NO PLACE IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE Statement of the 
Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG) New York, 
October 31, 1997 

The Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG) is deeply
concerned about the trend among the authorities in India to add more
"black laws" to the arsenal of existing anti-democratic laws, and
calls upon everyone to oppose their use in any form. 

In the last month the Jammu & Kashmir government ratified the
Disturbed Areas Act, originally promulgated under decree during
President's Rule, that gives the security forces full powers of
shoot-to-kill, as well as search and seizure - without fear of
prosecution or accountability.  Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh
government is reportedly drafting new legislation that would reinstate
provisions from the now-expired TADA law, including detention without
charge or bail, secret in-camera trials, and a reversal of the burden
of proof, so that its defendants are assumed guilty until proven
otherwise. 

This comes in addition to at least eight similar "black laws" on the
books, the most notorious of which is the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act, passed in 1958 for use in Nagaland.  Not only is the
AF(SP)A still in effect there, almost 40 years later, but it has since
been extended throughout the north-east to include Assam, Mizoram,
Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, and has periodically been used
elsewhere, including Kashmir. 

While these black laws differ in their legal provisions relating to
preventive detention, bail, burden of proof, search and seizure, or
shoot-to-kill, they are uniform in one respect - they legalise
arbitrariness on the part of the law-enforcement agencies in the name
of maintaining "law and order".  Under their protection, the security
forces are a law unto themselves - they are in effect, the prosecutor,
witness, judge and executioner in one. 

The cumulative experience in India with regard to black laws - from
the days of the Rowlatt Act in the colonial period to today - is that
they provide legal cover for eliminating the political resistance of
the people.  These political struggles have taken many forms over the
years.  The organised parliamentary parties take their fights to the
floor of the Lok Sabha or the state assemblies.  But the most
important political struggles in India have actually taken place
outside the locus of parliament, and outside the sway of parliamentary
parties who have discredited themselves on numerous occasions through
their opportunism and narrow aims. 

It is these extra-parliamentary struggles of the people which are the
targets of attack through black laws and state terrorism.  It is only
natural that extra-parliamentary struggles erupt, because the scope
that exists for people to participate in the exercise of political
power within the current electoral mechanisms is minimal.  But
whenever people take up extra-parliamentary struggles outside the
control of one of the official parties, they are invariably considered
a "law and order" problem.  It is ironic that instead of seeking to
renovate the political process with new mechanisms that can tackle the
serious shortcomings in the present political process, the state only
innovates with respect to new laws to crush these struggles. 

The validity of India's myriad black laws has also been examined from
time to time since 1950 by the High Courts and the Supreme Court.  But
on each occasion, the judiciary has ruled that black laws are in fact,
in keeping with the provisions of the Indian constitution.  Recently,
they even upheld the continued detention of TADA victims, even though
TADA itself has since lapsed.  This is a matter of grave concern,
because many consider the Indian constitution as the ultimate guardian
of their rights.  But in actual fact, it fails to defend any right as
inviolable, and subjects each one to "reasonable" limitations.  It is
the constitution that establishes the primacy to the executive branch
of government over all others, and which contains provisions that
permit the legislation and exercise of black laws. 

To date, the National Security Act (NSA), the Maintenance of Internal
Security Act (MISA) and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act (TADA) have all had to lapse because of the weight of
popular opposition.  Of course, in each case, a variant of each one
has since been brought back to life under one pretext or another. 
According to published reports, the Home Ministry in Delhi is
currently drafting a variant of TADA for consideration by parliament
in its next session. 

The opposition of the Indian people to state terrorism in general and
to black laws in particular is deeply rooted.  For that matter, the
ancient Indian legal codes themselves advised the praja to do away
with a tyrant raja.  In modern times, this opposition has been
manifest in the resounding electoral defeats that people have handed
to state governments in West Bengal in 1977 or Punjab in 1997 - and
even in the case of the central government itself after the Emergency
in 1977. 

In each of these cases, people had risen against Congress(I)
governments for their use of state terrorism.  What is noteworthy now
- and particularly in the period since TADA was promulgated, is that
the advocacy or use of black laws is no longer identified with just
the Congress (I), but by virtually all political parties in power. 
Whether at the state-level or at the Centre under the United Front
coalition, parties ranging from the Telugu Desam, DMK, Akali Dal, Asom
Gana Parishad, BJP, Janata Dal, National Front (Kashmir), CPI, or
CPI(M) have brought disrepute upon themselves because of their
implicit support or use of black laws - even though most of these
parties have themselves been victims of state terrorism at one time or
another. 

In the opinion of the AIPSG, it is urgent for people to demand that
the Indian state withdraw the use of black laws from all parts of
India, and reject any future attempt to enact such legislation. 
People who participate in political opposition just cannot be
dismissed as "law and order" problems and be dealt with through
incarcerations and fake encounters.  All those being held in detention
under the black laws must be immediately released and compensated. 
This must be a demand of all the people of India, irrespective of
their backgrounds, or where they live, for an attack on the rights of
any part of the polity is an attack on the rights of all. Black laws
are a black mark on democracy, always and under all circumstances. 



Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG) 
Earl Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 

Email:    ipsg-AT-maestro.com 
Web:    www.columbia.edu/cu/ipsg 




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